One of a Kind
by CharcoalFaith
Summary: When a female feral mutant interrupts Victor and Logan's fight in Las Vegas a whole new ball game begins. The brothers will be fighting each other as they both attempt to capture her. Reason forgotten as their instincts take over. *MATURE THEMES*
1. Chapter 1

**Alright then, this is me starting another story, I have a great fondness for both Victor and Logan, and thus have written a story about them, fun huh?  
This is the first chapter, it's a little long so I might split it in two, I'm unsure at the moment.  
Anyway, Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel Characters or plots. Does that cover it?**

**Does Mention Rape, don't read if you're offended by it.**

-xCFx-

"You know what I've always wanted to tell you John?"

I made a swipe at the position I was sure Wraith was going to appear, but just as my hand reached for him, a small yet powerful...thing collided with me, sending me spinning off target.

I growled instinctively, I had to finish this fight before Jimmy made it out of the club. I made another swipe at John but he just disappeared and as I whirled around looking for him I almost collided with the previously mentioned thing.

It turned out to be a girl. I looked her over quickly. Small, thin, hot. Frail, I decided and thrust my arm out to knock her out of my way. At least that was the plan, she caught my arm, flipped over it and broke it in three places.

I snarled in pain. What the fuck? I grabbed her by the neck and thrust her against a wall. She struggled which only resulted in my claws ripping into the vulnerable flesh beneath her chin. I drew a breath, about to ask her why the fuck she was interfering, so I could kill her with my curiosity sated.

Unfortunately for her I drew the breath through my nose, I caught her scent and I realised. _She was a fucking feral mutant._ I growled in surprise and her eyes locked onto my fangs. The colour in her face disappeared as she realised she'd taken on someone that wasn't only twice her size but also a feral male. She hissed struggling further in an attempt to be free. I was shocked, very shocked.

You see, feral mutants are almost always male, females are very, very rare. They tended to learn from a very young age, _stay away from feral males._ We couldn't resist them, the desire to take them as mates too strong, and we weren't gentle. Pheromones or something. Whatever, I don't give a shit all I knew was that one had just fallen into my lap and by the smell of her I was the first to find her.

I quickly scanned her form, my initial assessment was mostly right, she was small, just about reaching my shoulder, and slim too. But I doubted I could call her a frail after she broke my arm, which, by the way was nicely healed by now. She had long auburn hair which was leaning more towards the red end of the spectrum and was tied loosely behind her so little pieces fell into her chocolate brown eyes.

Unfortunately, as I was studying her I lost track of Wraith who hit my hard in the back of the neck with a piece of pipe. It broke my spine which was more than a little annoying for me, considering that spinal wounds took a few minutes to heal.

I heard Wraith approaching the girl and helping her up.

"Thanks for the hand, but I'd be running if I were you, he's one hell of a beast." I heard him say to her.

My impatience mounted higher, she couldn't run, I still had to deal with Jimmy, soon her head start would be too big to overcome. And then I heard her speak, ferals have deep voices, often animalistic and crude so when she spoke I was once again shocked.

"Yeah, I gathered, but shouldn't you be running too?" Her voice was clear, like crystal although it wavered a little from fear. Fear of me. My patience wore thinner still as the animal in me basked in her fear.

"Nah, don't mind me, I've got help somewhere around, you get going, I wouldn't put it past him to track you down."

Jimmy was of course the help he was talking about, another thing I was impatient about. When was he going to get his ass out here? Then it hit me. Shit. Jimmy was feral too. I doubted even my saintly brother with his grief and mourning could resist a female feral, the instinct was just too strong. And there was no way in hell Jimmy was getting his hands on my girl.

I heard her light footsteps as she ran swiftly for the end of the alley just as the last of my vertebrae slid into place, I flipped myself up from where I'd crumpled and charged towards her on all fours. I was silent as a cat yet somehow she heard me.

She crouched low just as my claws were about to connect with her and I flew harmlessly over her head. As I hit the floor I dug my claws into the soft earth and span around. She was already sprinting the other way, she was fast too. I was about to give chase when the wall beside her exploded and something heavy collided hard with her sending her sprawling onto the ground.

One breath was all I needed to tell me it was Jimmy and I was running at him with all the speed I was physically capable of. I launched myself into him with enough power to send us both flying down the alley. In a calculated move I snagged the girls arm as I crashed into Jimmy so when we had both struggled to our feet I had the red head clutched to my side by one strong arm. I realised she must have some kind of healing factor, I could smell a fair amount of her blood but she was looking up at me with bright alert eyes.

Jimmy was shaking his head, he'd have been more than a little disorientated when he crashed through that wall and probably hadn't understood the girls scent, but seeing her clutched to my side he soon realised and his eyes gleamed as he looked at her. This suddenly stopped being a fight about past grievances and had turned into a fight about the female feral squirming desperately in my grasp.

Suddenly yet another guy appeared through the hole in the wall shouting something about never going back. Me and Jimmy were saved the majority of the distraction though by Wraith, who was at a complete loss as to what to do so he knocked the guy unconscious with one punch. I was pretty impressed.

Me and Jimmy turned back to each other.

"Hand her over." He growled out. I knew it! Not even his bleeding heart could resist. I pulled my lips up into my trademark grin.

"Not a chance hell."

-xCFx-

"Not a chance in Hell." I heard him answer and I felt the vibrations rumble through his chest.

I was still struggling with his arm, I wasn't built for this sort of thing. The majority of my mutation focused on the flight part of a fight/flight situation. I was quick, agile, I had lightning fast reactions and incredibly good senses. I also had my healing abilities, not an overly impressive array. Not unless you knew how to use them, which I did, but not in a situation like this. I guess I'd just have to improvise.

I flipped my legs behind me relying on his arm to keep me upright and before he could quite figure out what I was doing I had one foot hooked around his neck and the other on the small of his back, did I fail to mention I was also very flexible? Anyway I pushed and pulled simultaneously, successfully breaking his spine for the second time that night.

We collapsed into a heap on the floor, with the majority of his weight lying on top of me. I was feeling very pleased with myself, so pleased in fact that I completely forgot about the other male. The feral one, not the other guy.

He hauled me roughly to my feet and dragged me away from the paralysed body. I struggled madly, tonight was just not my night. After having successfully avoided feral males for 18 years I meet two in the same night.

I curled my free hand into a fist and swung it towards his face, he reached out to catch it but I was far too quick and hit him squarely in the nose. He grabbed my free arm and shook me before locking eyes with me.

"Would you rather have him?" He snarled at me jerking his head towards the giant behind me. I could almost see his point, as large as this feral was the other was massive, not someone I wanted in my bed, then again it wasn't like I wanted him either.

"I'd rather have no one at all." I snarled back before executing a move I'd learnt a long time ago. Placing my hands on the forearms gripping me I put all my weight on them as I placed one foot on his chest and kicked him hard in the chin with the other and flipping over backwards, forcing him to release my arms. I landed gracefully on the tarmac and hit him in the nose again before darting towards the exit.

Suddenly the teleport guy appeared in front of me and grabbed my arms, I was about to give him the same treatment when he spun me around so I was behind him and turned to the smaller feral who'd started towards me.

"What the hell's going on Logan?" But he didn't get a proper answer, just a simple,

"Get the fuck out of my way John."

Charming. I wasn't too sure how great this John guy was in a fight, after all he wasn't doing too great against the giant before I'd turned up.

Thinking back I can't believe how much of an idiot I was, I don't even know 'John', yet I decided it'd be a great idea to risk my life to save him. Stupid! Why didn't I check what I was facing, giant guy like that, of course he was a feral!

This John person still hadn't moved from in front of me and as doubtful as I was about his abilities I was still thankful for the protection. I'd ended up next to the unconscious guy from the club and to my shock I recognised him.

Remy LeBeau, shameless flirt and funny too, I'd met him a few times in bars, he was great with card tricks. I settled into a crouch and felt for a pulse but my hand never reached his neck, intercepted by his, he entwined our fingers and cracked open an eye.

"Well hello beautiful." He whispered out in his trademark accent. I flashed a weak smile at him and helped him to his feet. His eyes flickered here and there quickly taking in the situation. He knew the danger that male ferals were to me and he quickly understood my situation.

I could smell his fear as he somehow recognised John and I was once again shoved behind someone. His fear was bad. Very bad, whoever this guy was he'd done something big to get Remy this way, he wasn't a coward.

"You can go." I whispered to him, but I knew his chivalry wouldn't let him, he couldn't leave a damsel in distress.

Suddenly I heard the faint sounds of the giant rising, I couldn't see past both Remy and John so I had to rely on my hearing. I heard him launch himself at the guy John had called Logan and I could hear one hell of a fight ensue. I kept hearing a metallic noise that just didn't seem to fit but I couldn't quite place it.

Someone hit the ground hard, Logan I was pretty sure and then John disappeared as claws raked through where he was previously standing, Remy was batted aside like he weighed nothing and I was once again confronted with the giant.

I thought fast, anything to distract him, I saw his dog tags.

"Name and Rank Soldier." I barked out, relying on his muscle memory to help me. It worked. He stood a little taller, and stated

"Victor Creed, United Sta-" I cut him off with a swift kick to the face before I flipped over his head and kicked him hard in the small of his back.

I needed a plan, some way to get out of this with my innocence intact. It was difficult to think, fear was coursing through me, I'd never been confronted with one male feral, never mind two massive ones.

My musings were cut off by an arm grabbing me around my waist as Logan pulled me back into him and crushing me against his chest.

-xCFx-

She was so warm, her body temperature had to be a fair few degrees higher than mine and she was soft, melding into the hard planes of my chest. I was at war with myself, half of me was desperately shouting that she didn't want this, that it was so very wrong. But the animal that had been getting stronger and stronger had broken free. It didn't care. She was a female feral, no male feral could resist her, besides, _she was so soft._

I growled out a warning to Victor, _'Mine'_, unfortunately Victor seemed to disagree as he crouched low, I felt the red head shift in my arms and remembering what had happened to Victor I tightened my grip on her and nipped her lightly on the ear as a warning, she stilled.

Victor charged. I had no choice but to release the girl as he hit because I needed my arms to defend myself. The clash was short but bloody, I don't know how many times I drove my claws into him but the healing just kept coming, eventually he got his feet under me and kicked me hard into a wall.

I would have been back up in seconds if the Cajun hadn't hit me with more of his wacko playing cards, I went right through the wall and through the next one behind that. I managed to catch a glimpse of the same Cajun being thrown bodily after me before my heart stopped and everything went black.

I woke up a few minutes later to find John standing over me with an annoyed look on his face. I inhaled slowly through the nose, she was gone. I shook my head, back in control now she was out of my presence.

Damn. Out of my presence, that meant Victor had her, poor kid. I shuddered when I thought about what that meant for the girl. I jumped to my feet and ran back to the alley but they were long gone.

"Care to explain what the hell just happened?"

I turned to see John behind me, shame was burning in my eyes as I began to explain.

"She's a feral mutant. Rare. Difficult for us males to resist. Now Victors got her. Don't want to think about what she's going through." Short, to the point. I never was one for words.

John still looked confused.

"So you were trying to help her?" he asked frowning. I barked out a rueful laugh.

"Hell no, animal was in control, like I said, difficult to resist."

He nodded his head slowly.

"So, you're in control now?"

"Yes. Won't be if she's near though. We should help her, you and the Cajun will have to do the actual rescuing though, if I go anywhere near her I'll be more of a hindrance than a help."

"What makes you think the Cajun will help?"

I pulled out my claws.

"He won't have a choice."

-xCFx-

I knew there was a reason I liked that Cajun. I watched Jimmy fly through the wall with a look of comical surprise on his face. But when the kid turned to me with one of those cards he quickly followed the runt through the wall. Okay, maybe I didn't like him that much.

I quickly scanned around for the girl fully expecting her to have done a runner. Instead I picked up the deep red of her hair not a few feet away, I quickly stalked towards her but she made no attempt to escape.

I crouched down next to her where she was knelt on the floor. She reached up a shaking pale hand and touched her head, when she brought it back down it was dripping in blood. Her glassy eyes met mine and her mouth formed a small 'o' before she collapsed into my chest. Perfect.

I scooped her up and set off at a run through the streets of Vegas to where I'd parked the car. I shoved her into the passenger seat and set out for the highway as fast as the motor could take.

I couldn't take her to Three Mile Island. Stryker would kill to get his hands on a female feral, not something I was going to let happen. At the same time I couldn't leave her somewhere while I went to Three Mile Island. Thus the only option was for me to forget about Stryker and the whole set up.

It wasn't like I'd have a hard time getting work. I'd built up quite a reputation as a hit man and could easily get money that way. In fact the only thing I'd really be losing was the adamantium which I was fairly sure Stryker was never going to give me anyway.

The question was, was she worth it? I tossed that question aside with a chuckle. Damn sure she was worth it. I had only ever heard of two female feral mutants in my life, both of which were dead, to find a virgin one... I couldn't believe my luck.

I felt her stirring beside me as her head wounds finally healed. I let out a small growl of annoyance that I couldn't take her now, the impatience getting to me. But I needed to get her away from the runt, far away.

The way I figured it, I'd drive to the military airport, take Stryker's jet acting like the good little soldier, fly to Pennsylvania leaving no scent trail for the runt and then make a break for the Canadian border.

Brilliant, Stryker might come after me, but with what? Deadpool? He'd have a hard time considering he still needed Wraiths and that kids powers and even if he got them, or replaced them with something it'd take some time. Plenty of time to spill a few secrets to that Xavier or that crazy wacko Magneto. They can put a stop to it, no need for me to waste my time doing it.

"The lemon one!" mumbled the girl next to me.

I raised an eyebrow at her before scanning her over, she was going to need new clothes if she was going to get on that plane without raising suspicion, these ones were covered in blood. She'd need a shower too, we could hardly get a hotel, we really didn't have time to spend the night, I had to get her far away before the runt tracked us down.

Well, we could book a room just for the shower, it wasn't like I was running low on cash. I knew one just on the outskirts of Vegas and it was close to an all night shopping centre, should do the trick. Happy with this plan I pulled off the highway and the girl beside me finally shook herself awake.

At first she just looked at me with tired, lazy eyes, there was no fear and for some reason a part of me liked it. She glanced slowly around the car with a vaguely bemused expression on her face before she fixed her eyes on me again.

I saw it when it all came flooding back to her, like her eyes literally filled up with fear. I chuckled, a larger part of me liked _that._ She scrambled backwards and reached for the door.

"It's locked." I called to her but it didn't stop her pulling the handle a few times. She hissed and wheeled around to face me, eyes burning.

"Let me go." It was a quiet order, as if she'd brought up all her courage and that was as loud as she could make it. I just chuckled deeply before I remembered her trick with the name and rank. I laughed again at my own reaction to it, the girl was good, and it was a good trick, I might use it someday.

She looked a little annoyed at my laughter but said nothing.

"Where are we going?" she asked uncertainly.

I flashed her my most menacing grin that showed my fangs.

"A hotel." Just because I didn't have time to get into it when we got there didn't mean she had to know it. At the mention of a hotel she was literally shaking a little with fear, this was going to be fun indeed.

I figured I might as well get to know a little about this girl, we were going to be together for a very long time.

"What's your name?" It seemed like a relatively good question to start with and she might just answer.

I was kept waiting but after a few minutes I got a quiet,

"Rhea."

"Rhea? Isn't that from mythology or something? Who was she?"

"Titan Queen, she had her King thrown into hell which with a bit of luck is where you're going."

I chuckled, she was very scared, I could smell it and yet she was still giving me cheek, what a little fire cracker.

"Bit stupid wasn't it, attacking a male feral?" I asked her. She merely sighed.

"I forgot to check. Stupid? Yeah very, especially considering the size of you, of course you're feral."

I grinned at that.

"Why'd you do it anyway? You don't know Wraith do you?"

"Wraith?"

"John."

"Oh, no, it just didn't seem a fair fight and he was about to lose."

"Huh, Good Samaritan?"

"What can I say? I'm a saint." It was the sarcasm that had me really impressed, this girl had some serious nerve.

However nothing I said after that would get a word from her so we drove the rest of the way in silence.

We reached the hotel and I stepped out of the car, but apparently the girl was refusing to move. I walked around the car and yanked open the passenger door.

"Get out." I growled at her, this stop was already costing me precious time.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not an idiot and you repeatedly hurting me is a preferable alternative to what'll happen if I go in there with you,"

I sighed, at first it was fun now it was just annoying.

"You and me ain't doing anything tonight, I need to get you as far away from the runt as possible before that happens, so get out, I'm going to book a room, you're going to have a shower, you're going to make it fast and then we're going to leave, I'll get you some new clothes and then we'll be on our way. _So get out of the fucking car." _I snarled at her.

She slowly pulled herself out of the car and as soon as she was clear I slammed the door behind her. She had that look in her eyes, the 'I'm going to bolt' look so I swung an arm around her shoulders and dragged her to my chest before starting towards the hotel.

The room was nice enough, not that I cared, we weren't staying anyway, but the bathroom had one door and no windows so I was happy. I shoved her in the tiny room and then called the bell boy. I gave him $200 to go get her some clothes and told him I'd pay him $100 for the service. He came back before she was out with jeans, a shirt, a cardigan, some converse, underwear and a coat. He even thought to buy her a hair brush.

A few minutes after he'd left she came out wearing just a towel. I froze.

"Are those the new clothes?" She pointed at the pile the boy had left but I completely ignored her. The towel was quite small and gave a great view of slender pale legs as well as completely revealing her neck and shoulders.

By now she'd noticed me staring. I took a step forward. She took a step back. I took another step forward and she took another back, but her back hit the bathroom door. I reached out a hand a snatched a lock of wet auburn hair. She shivered as I got even closer.

"Y-You said we had to g-get away from Logan." She stuttered out. My rational mind agreed with her, I never liked my rational mind.

I took a final step so I was flush with her, staring down at her. She looked up with big fearful brown eyes. I couldn't resist, she smelt like heaven. I kissed her.

It wasn't sweet or tender, it was hard and possessive and very, very lustful. She gasped in surprise letting me slip into the warm crevices of her mouth. She tasted like honey, she was soft and warm against my hard body as I pushed her against the door, her feet coming a few inches off the floor.

I slid my hands down her soft curves until they landed on her hips, I felt her buck against be in an attempt to get me off and the movement damn near lost me my control. I quickly reigned myself in, setting her back on her feet. Unable to quite let go I bit her lip hard enough to leave a mark which earned me a surprised, slightly pained yip from her. I let her go.

I crossed the room, gathered up the clothes and shoved her into the bathroom with them, not quite trusting myself with her so close and grabbed the car keys as I impatiently waited for her to finish. When she was done I was a little disappointed to note that the bruise on her lips was already gone.

I again dragged her to my side before walking out the room. If the people at the desk thought it was odd that we were leaving so soon they didn't mention it.

-xCFx-

I was still a little shaken from that kiss, we were driving again now, I had no idea where to and I couldn't stop dwelling on it. A part of me liked it, the small animal part of me. I wasn't like Victor, I was far more human than animal, so much so that it was difficult to tell what animal I resembled. The majority of me, the human bit was shaking in terror.

The thing that really stood out was the possessive nature of it, like he wanted desperately to prove I belonged to him. It was scary, I didn't want to belong to anyone, I just wanted to go home to the little apartment opposite Remy's club.

Then there was how hard he'd been, I didn't think he was capable of being gentle but if he was like this when he kissed me, I could barely imagine what he'd be like when we got where we were going.

We drove about an hour, there was little conversation. I briefly asked him where we were going, he briefly growled 'airport'. It was a special moment.

Although terror usually likes to stick around, over a long period of time you seem to become numb to it after a while and soon I was bored. Unfortunately for him I hum when I'm bored. Not really sure why, it just happens, I get bored, I hum. It's that simple.

He shot me a bemused look, but as it continued he got more and more confused. He kept turning around and shooting me looks until finally he cracked.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. Not the most intelligent thing to do as it turned out, but I couldn't help it, his face was priceless.

He shot an arm out and grabbed my neck, claws sinking into the soft flesh. I gasped lightly in pain but I shook it off and glared at him.

"What the hell was that for?" I snarled at him.

"I don't like being laughed at, besides, I really don't need an excuse to hurt you, now answer the question." He growled back.

I had to backtrack to figure out what question he was talking about.

"It was humming, I hum when I'm bored, what's the big deal?" He rolled his big shoulders and cracked his neck.

"You sounded like you were purring." He answered. He was glaring at me but he took his claws from my neck. I'd never thought about it like that before.

"So?" I asked, "Why would that matter?" He grinned at me, that manic grin that had me scooting as far away from him as I could get. His lip curled up over his fangs and the cruel planes of his face stood out.

"I liked it." He grinned at me. I pressed as close to the door as I could, under no illusions as to what he meant when he said that.

"Thaaaats great, eyes on the road please, it's a safety hazard." He just chuckled at me, but carried on driving, there was no more humming after that.

-xCFx-

The Cajun, or Gambit as he insisted on being called was surprisingly willing to help, apparently he knew the girl. Rhea he called her and apparently they'd met a few times in the club. Within minutes we were all on the road, I was following a mixture of Victors and the girls scent although 'Gambit' kept shooting me doubtful looks every time we hit a cross roads.

I eventually tracked them to a hotel and I really thought I had them until I realised the room they'd booked was empty. Her bloodied clothes were in the trash in the bathroom so I can only assume this was a quick stop to get her presentable.

That was the bad news, the good news was that the scent was fresh, really fresh. Unfortunately the reason I could tell this was that Victors arousal was hard to miss. Her scent was there too, sweet and soft. I could feel the animal clawing its way to the surface so I quickly left the room.

What was I going to do when I found them? I damn sure couldn't help the girl, even now I was having trouble controlling the animal and she wasn't even here. All I'd do is attack Victor and then one hell of a fight would occur, not much help really.

Actually, that wasn't so bad, while I was fighting Victor the other two could get the girl out. Great, I filled them in. They agreed and we set off, I think I like these travelling companions, John never really says much and the Cajun, Gambit I reminded myself, well he seemed too worried about the girl to talk much. Odd really, they didn't sound close.

We were tracking them for maybe an hour and a half once we left the hotel and I was growing increasingly worried, we had to be almost on them now, they hadn't had much of a head start.

We were about a mile away from the airport when I realised where they were heading, when I realised it was a lost cause. They'd be in the air by now. Damn it! This was all my fault. I'd failed her.

-xCFx-

I was settled in the leather seat next to her now as the aircraft steadily gained height. She'd been a bit of a struggle getting on the plane, there was some refusing to get out of the car and a whole load of complaining when I dragged her. I had to tell the guards she was a prisoner that didn't respond to sedatives.

I couldn't quite get over her humming in the car. When I first heard it I thought it was something to do with the car, but apparently not. When I realised it was her I almost jumped her right there, _she was fucking purring._ Well at least I thought she was, sounded pretty damn near anyway. I'm not sure why, it just got to me, crawled under my skin and made me want her like nothing before.

I'd felt my control wavering fast so I cut her off, asked her what the fuck she was doing and she Laughed! I don't like being laughed at, in fact I fucking hate it. Maybe I shouldn't have grabbed her neck, not that I felt bad or anything, like I said to her, I don't need an excuse to hurt her, but her pulse beneath my hand started fraying my control.

I loved the way she shrunk away when I said I liked it. The fear made her smell delicious, I couldn't wait to get her to Canada, someplace safe, away from the runt and any other ferals that fancied their chances. The wait was so going to be worth it.

I looked her over again, she was slumped slightly in the chair next to me, eyes staring blankly out of the window. It was something instinctual I guess, after all there were prettier frails out there, ones with a curvier figure, but she got me hotter than anything I'd ever come across before. Maybe it was because she wasn't frail, she could take whatever I gave her and survive. Probably a basic mating instinct.

The jet was cushier than the standard military ones, all cream leather and soft lighting, we were all alone in the seating area, with the pilots shut away in the cockpit. I turned to her. She noticed the movement and turned to face me, pulling her legs up to her chest in a defensive stance.

I grinned, letting my claws out I ran one down her face. She shivered and tried to pull away but I grabbed her chin.

"Shhhhhhh." I whispered to her mockingly, before I crushed my lips to hers.

Aaah the sweet honey taste was still there, her terror giving it a kick. I could almost feel the wild part of her struggling, instincts warring with one another. One half telling her to run, get far away, get safe, while the other half drove her to mate. The dominant human part of her was terrified, trying to squirm away from me.

Without breaking the kiss I turned her around so her legs stretched across the sofa like seats and all but climbed on top of her. She was trapped beneath my weight, my big coat coming down to cut us off from the outside world.

She was warm and soft beneath me, squirming and bucking, creating delicious friction that had me growling deep into her mouth. I sank my fangs deep into her bottom lip and tasted the blood that flowed into my mouth, she was going to be the death of me.

I ached to keep going, to take her right there on the couch and fuck her until she couldn't walk straight but we were landing soon. I sat up, pulling her with me so that she was clutched to my chest facing me.

Her breathing was quick and scared, she ran her tongue over her cut lip which was already healing and I noticed the small amount of blood that had run down her chin. Reaching over I ran my tongue along it, lapping up the small river.

She shivered again, burying her face in my coat in an attempt to shut out the image of me. I chuckled and rubbed my face into her hair, it smelt of pine and fresh snow. I clutched her closer. Mine. And no feral or any other type of man was getting anywhere near her.

I snarled as the wheels touched down. Now I'd have to let go of her. I pulled her to her feet and again clutched her to my side as the plane came to a stop.

"Come on then little Rhea." I started towards the exit with her at my side.

The scene that greeted me on the runway was not one I was pleased with. Stryker was stood staring at me and there was a whole squadron of human soldiers behind him. I growled lightly, they didn't know she was feral, couldn't tell by her scent and she had no feral features but they'd discover it soon enough.

I lowered my head to whisper in her ear, far too quiet for a human to hear.

"If that man gets hold of you he will run test after test on you, torture you to the point of insanity all in the name of science. Believe me I've seen it and it isn't pretty. Now I know you can fight fairly well, so, you're going to take the left flank, take out as many soldiers as you can, Ignore the guy in the middle, at the moment he's not a big threat, but keep moving, die before you let them restrain you. You hear me?"

All I got was a slight nod but it was enough. She could smell the hostility on these men and the truth in my words, apparently she'd rather be with me than them, what was that saying again? Better the devil you know.

We quickly descended from the plane and I nodded at Stryker when we reached the tarmac, he was about to say something when I nudged the girl and we made our move.

I reached the men quicker, but I got three bullet wounds for my troubles. She flipped over the first shots, landing quickly in the centre of the men. For anyone else this would have been a fatal error, and I was just preparing to help her out when she made her move.

She leapt high in the air and somehow landed squarely on one man's shoulders, with a quick flick of her legs she broke his neck and as he fell she jumped off, tackling another. Now, I'd always had a cat like grace, but with claws like mine you don't really need to be accurate and accurate was exactly what this girl was. She whirled around, taking out the majority of the men with simple blows to the pressure points, a couple ended up with broken necks. She didn't seem too bothered about it.

I was annoyed by her non lethal force, no girl of mine was going to just let people off. I was about to stalk over there and personally force her to snap their necks when she bent low and relived one of the soldiers of their assault rifle. She shot each man in the head with a detached air that even I would have been proud of.

She quickly pulled the weapon to pieces, checking each bit was in working order before putting it back together and slinging it across her back. I was surprised she knew how to handle the gun, it's not the sort of thing frails can usually do. _She's not a frail_ I reminded myself.

"You keeping that Kitten?" I called over to her and she looked at me with narrow eyes before nodding slightly and bending down to search the corpses for ammo.

"Look Victor, I'm not quite sure what's going on, but the tests have just come back for the adama-" Stryker was cut off by my hand grabbing him around the neck.

"I don't give a shit about the adamantium, you hear me? Me, and the Kitten are going far far away, and if you so much as think about coming after us..." I tightened my grip on his throat, "Well, let's just say you really won't like it. This is me handing in my resignation. Good luck with the Deadpool. Speaking of which, all the files are on your PDA aren't they?"

I slipped my free hand into his jacket pocket and retrieved the hand held computer.

"Excellent, this'll come in real handy for when I'm selling you out. Have a nice life Colonel." I flashed him a manic grin, my eyes glinting brutally. I was leaving him alive because I figured I owed him for all the years he'd kept me in big boots and scary black coats. Next time I saw him, he wouldn't be so lucky.

"Get your ass over here Rhea!" I yelled over at her. Apparently she wasn't overly anxious to be chased down because she obeyed quickly enough. As soon as she was within arm's reach I grabbed her and crushed her to my chest, the feel of her there was almost becoming familiar.

We took one of the army jeeps, after all they wouldn't be needing them. I felt myself relaxing as we hit the open road, soon we'd be in Canada. Soon we'd be home. I'd taken the gun from her and now it was lying on the back seat.

"Where'd you learn to handle a gun?" She shook herself before answering.

"My father had an old major teach me four years ago."

"Why?"

"I guess he wanted me to be able to defend myself against bastards like you."

I briefly considered being offended, but instead I went for amused. I chuckled deeply my trademark grin making an appearance.

"Was he human?"

"Yes, my mother was too. Why so many questions Creed?"

I chuckled again.

"You and me are going to be spending a lot of time together Kitten, I figure I might as well get to know you."

"Really? I didn't think rapists usually got to know their victims."

For some reason that comment really got to me. Anger flared high and I drove my claws deep into her stomach, she gasped, scrabbling at my hand but I kept them there as I spoke to her, my voice a menacing purr.

"I think someone needs to learn a little respect, I doubt this experience is going to pleasant for you, but you keep riling me up like this it's going to get a whole lot worse. Y' hear me? Now, you were unfortunate enough to get found by me, and I'm not going to lie Kitten I'm one of the biggest brutes out there. I'm not going to be gentle, I'm not sure if I even know how to be gentle, but I promise you this Rhea, I'm never going to let anyone else in the world fucking touch you. You're Mine. And I protect what's mine, you've just got to deal with me. So play nice little Kitten, because no one is going to protect you from me."

I retracted my claws and glanced at the blood I'd spilled. Shit. Now I'd have to buy her a new shirt. I grinned, then again I could just have her wear no shirt at all.

-xCFx-

My stomach itched where it was healing and I was feeling more than a little shaken. I didn't think I'd ever had an injury as bad as that before and he did it without a second thought, like it was nothing. Obviously I'd never actually met a feral male before, and I guess somehow I'd thought people were exaggerating, but Victor scared the life out of me, the Logan guy too.

Was this what my life was going to be like? Get repeatedly raped and then mauled whenever I opened my mouth. Yay. Fun. And I knew it would never end, even if I escaped Victor, where could I run to? There was always going to be another feral male waiting around the corner.

To my horror I felt a tear slip from my eyes, sliding slowly down face. A claw caught it and I watched scared as Victor tasted my tears, he was grinning manically at me. With one arm still on the wheel, he wrapped the other around my waist and hauled me up closer to him, so my head was resting on his chest.

"Shhhhhh." He whispered again, but this time he didn't kiss me, he just held me tightly as he drove. The warmth burning through his coat and the rhythmic movements of the car soon sent me to sleep.

I woke when the terrain beneath the car changed from smooth tarmac to gravel and I looked up to see us arriving at a small house built of soft grey stones. Victor shut off the ignition and climbed out of the driver's side.

There was no chance in hell I was getting out of this car, I couldn't, there was no doubt in my mind that if I ordered my muscles to move they'd completely ignore me. I was terrified, terrified of him, what he'd do to me, terrified of what would happen in that house.

The passenger door was yanked open and Victor extended his hand to help me out.

"Let's go Kitten."

I was terrified.

-xCFx-

**Right then, congrats if you got all the way, I'm going to update soon, I know that was an evil cliff hanger and all that jazz, but if you review I may be more inclined to write more ;D**

**CharcoalFaith.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, Chapter 2,Yay!**

**I don't own X men or any of the characters, if you recognise them, I don't own them.**

**Okay, so this contains quite a lot of lemons. Mentions rape, a lot, no actual rape in it, you know, because I'm lovely ;D And I in no way condone this sort of behaviour.**

**CF.**

"Let's go Kitten." She wasn't moving, I could smell her terror, I don't think she could move.

I reached in and grabbed an arm and yanked her from the car, I probably should have been gentle but I was running out of patience.

She stumbled a little, digging her heels into the gravel as if she could stop me pulling her along. I got bored after a moment and slung her over my shoulder. A mistake as it turned out.

Her nimble little fingers found a pressure point at the back of my neck with startling ease and I fell to my knees in blinding pain. She was off like a shot, sprinting fast towards the forest, by the time I'd clambered back to my feet she had already disappeared amongst the trees. I rolled my shoulders, this was going to be fun.

On all fours I bounded after her, she was quick, but the forest was my territory and the scent of her fear was so easy to follow. It took me less than a minute to catch her, snatching her up mid bound and slamming her back into a tree.

"Now, now Kitten, that wasn't very nice." She just hissed at me, a cornered animal desperate to be free. I pressed my face into the crook of her neck and inhaled the scent off fresh pine that clung to her.

If I carried her back to the house I'd probably just get a repeat performance, I weighed up my options before reaching up and snapping her neck like a twig. She slumped against me.

By the time she woke up I was dumping her on the bed back at the house. Once again her eyes were lazy and content before she realized her situation. She growled and tried to jump up but I placed a single massive hand on her upper chest and shoved her back into the mattress.

The bed was massive, designed to easily hold my bulk with a whole lot room to spare and the image of her led there, hair splayed out was one I'd treasure forever. I growled deeply as I clambered on top of her, her eyes were wild with fear and she was bucking desperately to get me off.

I realised the hand holding her to the mattress must hurt and it made me realise that I didn't want to hurt her, not like all the other frails I'd had where I'd used them and left them broken from my ferocity. This one was _special_ I didn't want to break her.

I wanted her to want me, to want to be mine. She was mine, I had no doubt about that, but I wanted her to like belonging to me. I didn't think I could stand it if she wanted someone else, like the Runt or some other feral. She had to want _Me_. And I realised that'd take some work on my part.

I didn't think I could be gentle, didn't think I could prevent myself from marring that perfect skin. But maybe I could make her_ enjoy_ it. Maybe I could set her alight with it.

I caught her flailing hands and as gently as I could I placed them above her head. I leant over and kissed her, It wasn't quite like the other times, it was still possessive and dominating but I tried for her, tried to make her feel, tried to get her to join in.

I slid my free hand down her side with as little pressure as I could and I was rewarded by the scent of her body responding, but she still refused to kiss me.

"Come on Rhea, make it easier for yourself." I closed my eyes for a moment and said something I never thought I'd ever say again.

"Please Rhea, come on Kitten." Her eyes were wide and full of shock, warm chocolate pools as she looked at my quizzically. I brushed my hand across her breasts as I undid the buttons on her shirt. She gasped and arched involuntarily towards me and I grinned. Bingo.

Moving the fabric aside I kissed my way down her throat to the valley of her breast, I'd never been this gentle with a woman before but it was working, she was mewling and bucking against me, not trying to get away, trying to get _closer._

I could smell her arousal rising as her virgin body struggled to deal with the sensations, the great burning need. The animal in her was taking control as it urged her to mate. I snagged a claw under her bra and ripped through the fabric, baring more of her pale skin to my gaze, my mouth and my teeth. I reached a nipple and she damn near screamed. She was panting breathlessly and her small hands were curled into fists.

"Victor." She mewled, I could see that she didn't understand, couldn't figure out what she needed, she just knew that she needed something. I chuckled deeply and purred at her,

"Tell me what you want Kitten." She hissed as I nipped at her skin.

"I-I don't know." I roared with laughter at that and captured her soft lips with mine again. This time she kissed back, innocently exploring with endearing inexperience. I wanted her, desperately, but I still wasn't ready to hurt her.

Extending my claws I literally ripped her jeans off her. She gave a yip of surprise and then looked at me crossly, desire still burning in her gaze.

"That's not fair." I raised an eyebrow, she wanted to talk about fair?

"What's not fair?"

"You've still got all your clothes, and you're allowed to touch." She pouted prettily. My booming laugh echoed around the room again.

I released her arms and shrugged of my coat before dragging my shirt off and kicking off my boots. I doubt it was a massive improvement for her, I was still wearing my wife beater and trousers, but her hands reached out lightly towards me.

One trailed down my cheek, running through my whiskers while the other lightly fingered the dog tags that were almost touching her bare chest. She looked so small and vulnerable lying beneath me, hair spread out and eyes dancing. I kissed her again, pouring all my need into that one kiss, desperate for her to understand.

She wrapped he newly free arms around my neck, fingers scrabbling at the base of my hair, for a moment I thought she was going to hit the pressure point again, but she hit a different one. One I didn't even know existed that had me nearly collapsing on top of her. Not from pain, but pleasure.

"Fucking hell, where'd you learn that?" I growled.

"Instinct." She murmured into my lips.

"Well stop it, not going to hold out very long if you keep that up." She just giggled.

Pulling back I grabbed one of her ankles, she looked at me completely confused, even a little scared at the sudden change. I started placing wet, open mouthed kisses up her ankle and calf and by the time I reached the top of her thighs she was a shivering pool of weak muscles and liquid bones.

I moved to grab her other ankle but a pale hand shot out to stop me.

"No. I-I can't stand it." I grinned at her manically and while she was still shaking I ripped through her panties revealing her completely to my eyes.

She was shocked at the sudden movement and quickly tried to cross her legs in an attempt to conserve some of her modesty. I growled at her angrily and grabbed her legs to stop her. Mine, all mine. The entire expanse of milky white skin, the auburn locks, the chocolate eyes, all Mine.

"Mine. Mine. Mine." I murmured into her skin and I punctuated each 'mine' with a small nip of my fangs. Her soft flat stomach was peppered with small bruises that healed before my eyes. Her chest was heaving as her body tried to cope, I grinned, this was the sweetest form of torture I'd ever come across.

Her nimble little hands reached out and pulled the wife beater over my head before exploring the planes of my chest. She seemed to have forgotten that I'd brought her here against her will, that I was a brutal killer. She just seemed fascinated by my body, running her soft hands over the muscles she found.

Almost purring in pleasure I kissed my way down her stomach to the red curls that guarded her core. I blew lightly on the wet flesh between her legs and she instantly became still,

"W-What are you-" I cut her off with an experimental lick. She began bucking and mewling like crazy, fucking hell she was sensitive. I grabbed hold of her hips, pinning her down while I explored every crevice. Eventually her mewling died down and was replaced with a different sound, similar to the one I heard earlier in the car but clearer. Oh fuck, she was purring.

I lost it right then, hearing her purr, _it just got to me. _I was out of my trousers and boxers before she'd even realise I'd moved. She looked down at the sudden movement and I felt her freeze when she saw the size of me. Her eyes widened with fear and I could almost feel her preparing to bolt. I couldn't let her, even if I had to hold her down I'd do it, I was too far gone to consider backing away now. Besides, I always thought I was going to have to force her anyway.

I gripped her shoulders and glared into her eyes.

"It's okay Rhea, you're going to be fine, trust me." I said it in my deepest, velvet voice and I could feel her responding to it. Trust me? Was she really that naive?

I kissed her hard, running my hands over her breasts, tweaking her nipples, anything to distract her. It worked too, like I said that girl was fucking sensitive, soon she was writhing beneath me again. She didn't even notice when I positioned myself at her entrance.

I didn't give her any warning, no time for her to tense up, then it'd just hurt more. I just thrust into her, breaking her hymen and forcing myself balls deep into her tiny body.

I roared in triumph as I took her innocence, as I made her truly mine. She cried out in pain, tears dripping from her eyes falling into her hair, the shock of me inside her, stretching her open showed in every desperate pant.

The plan was to give her time to adjust before moving, but once I was inside her what little control I had went straight out of the window. Fucking hell she was tight, squeezing at me with burning, soaking flesh. I'd never felt anything like it, never had the animal in me been so desperate for a woman. Never had I been so desperate for a woman.

I began slamming into her with such a burning ferocity that I would have destroyed any other woman. For a few moments she just whimpered in pain before they slowly turned into gasps of pleasure as I hit the sweet spot within her.

I wasn't gentle. My claws raked deep into the soft flesh of her thighs and I'm fairly sure at one point my merciless pounding shattered her pelvis. But even then she was meeting me thrust for thrust, the pain a necessary side effect as she came over and over again at my touch.

She was purring again, the animal had clawed its way to the surface and now all she had was the desire to mate, the constant pursuit of the pleasure I was bringing to her. She was such a pretty picture beneath me. Her writhing flesh and her tangled curls, her unfocused eyes, and slightly open mouth.

I reached down and licked my way up the valley of her breasts to her throat and I plunged deep into her one last time. As I came within her I bit deep into her neck causing her to fall over the edge with me into the sweet oblivion.

-xCFx-

It was not how I expected it to be.

At first I was pissed at him for breaking my neck, who wouldn't be? And I'll admit that I was absolutely terrified when I woke up on the bed. But then he'd been almost gentle, he'd _pleaded_ with me to respond. I made the infamous Victor Creed say please!

I'd expected him to tear me apart, rip me to pieces with his claws and then do it all over again when I was mended. Oh don't get me wrong, there'd been pain. Lots and lots of pain, but it didn't hurt now, and at the time it didn't really seem to _matter_.

Suddenly anger broke through my exhaustion. All that wasted fear! I'd been terrified of this my entire life and this was it. Sure it had hurt, but it had felt so good too. And he said it wouldn't be pleasant! That son of a bitch had me terrified the whole way here.

"You Fucking Bastard!"

Suddenly I was punching every inch of him I could find, desperate to hurt him in some way. Little good it did, he just raised an eyebrow at me before rolling on top of me and pinning my arms.

"Something wrong Kitten?" He'd pulled out his rich velvet voice and it made me melt a little, but I was still ANGRY.

"You! You had me terrified! All the way here with the staring and the clawing. I thought you were going to tear me to pieces, you, you said it wouldn't be pleasant, that you wouldn't be gentle. I've been afraid of this my whole life and you made me fucking enjoy it!" I tended to cuss a lot when I got angry and I was definitely angry now, I was shouting madly at him.

What did he do? The bastard laughed. That deep booming laugh that made my hair stand on end.

"THIS ISN'T FUNNY! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW SCARED I WAS!" I was spitting mad now and he just kept on laughing.

"All right little Rhea, calm down. Am I supposed to apologise for not tearing you to pieces? Since it's such an amusing reason I think I'll let you off for hitting me this time." He dug his claws into my shoulders a little. "_This_ time."

I shuddered a little at the threat in his voice and decided that maybe I'd over reacted a little. Sure, get angry at the crazy kidnaper for scaring you, not for you know, kidnapping you. God I was so odd sometimes.

I guess I couldn't really call him a rapist, I was a little more than willing when he got me into his bed. I thought back to what the other feral, Logan had said, _"Would you rather have him?"_ Come to think of it, things could have been a whole lot worse, I doubted any other feral would have been as... gentle wasn't the right word, stimulating as Victor.

My thoughts were interrupted by the object of them as he began to nip playfully at my breasts.

"Again? But I'm so tired." He couldn't possibly expect me to go again, I was dead on my feet, or my back as the case may be.

Apparently he did because he rammed deep inside of me causing me to whimper in pain.

"Listen here little Rhea, just because I didn't hurt you, much. Doesn't mean you get a say in anything that happens here, got it? You are mine. I'll have you when I want, where I want and how I want. You belong to me."

I hissed at him, I didn't like the thought of belonging to anyone, I never did. I guess I'd let my guard down, even relaxed in his presence. I had to focus, remember that he was a wild animal that could turn on me at any time, like he'd said earlier, he didn't need an excuse to hurt me.

I lost count of the amount of time he took me that night, I came so hard and so many times that there were black spots in my vision. I think I begged him to stop, too tired to possibly go through another mind shattering experience but they just kept coming.

Sometimes he'd keep me on the brink of release for ages, playing with me, toying with me till there wasn't an ounce of fight in me left and I completely surrendered too him. My thighs were a raw red from the amount of times they'd had to heal over because his claws had ripped into me.

When he was finally sated I was barely conscious, I was only vaguely aware of him dragging me into his arms and throwing the blankets over us before I blacked out.

-xCFx-

She was sleeping heavily in my arms now. She had to be exhausted, I had built my stamina up over more than a hundred years and she was only young, judging by her up until recently virgin state she couldn't be much older than she looked.

I chuckled to myself as I remembered her outburst earlier. She was a difficult one to figure out, after all, why get mad about that? I'd got pretty much as close to rape as you can get while it was still consensual.

Actually, I'm fairly sure some of those more recent rounds would be classed as rape. She was certainly begging me to stop an awful lot, but that wasn't because of the pain, more because of the never ending pleasure that her tired body couldn't handle.

She wasn't as scared of me as I would like, but then again, I wanted her to want me. Maybe she couldn't be very scared if that was the case.

She was curled up next to me now, her head resting on my bare chest. I can't remember the last time I'd been this content, probably after a particularly brutal kill. Every time the little feral exhaled she blew auburn curls across my chest, tangling them with my dog tags.

As I buried my nose in her sweet smelling hair I realised this was the way I wanted to fall asleep every night. She was my mate now, until another feral could snatch her from my grasp. Considering that would never happen, it's safe enough to say she was my mate and only mine forever.

When I woke up the next morning she was already awake. She was examining one of my hands with the utmost concentration as she ran her finger across the claws. She hadn't realised I was awake so when I growled out,

"What are you doing Kitten?" she jumped and cut her hand on one of them. She looked shocked at the blood running down her hand and was staring at the red liquid like she'd never seen it before.

I snatched her hand up and brought it to my lips, licking the blood of her hand. I expected her to recoil, try and get her hand back but instead she started giggling. I'd never figure this girl out.

"Rhea, why are you laughing?" I said it in my most dangerous voice, the one that got grown men to cry. She looked up at me shocked and scared.

"It tickles." It was so quiet that even my heightened senses had a hard time picking it up. Suddenly any anger I had at her strange reaction disappeared and I started laughing.

She seemed a little relieved at my change in mood and smiled nervously at me. I'd never seen her smile before, it was beautiful. I don't describe things as beautiful and I certainly don't describe frails like that. But I couldn't think of any other way to describe it. I was getting more and more attached to this girl, probably the animal in me, she certainly wasn't just another frail.

I got out of bed stretching and put on my trousers. I tossed her my black shirt and she tugged it on over her head before collapsing back on the pillows with a yawn.

"Come on, breakfast." She opened one eye to stare at me, yawned again and began stretching. Annoyed at her lack of speed I scooped her up, carried her down the stairs and dumped her on one of the kitchen chairs.

She was staring at me with curious eyes as I cooked bacon and eggs. I was feeling more than a little satisfied with myself. With her tousled hair, tired eyes and my shirt on, she looked like she'd been thoroughly fucked, an image I really enjoyed.

I set down a plate of food in front of her and sat opposite her and began to eat. She just stared at hers.

"Victor, err, well," If she told me she was a vegetarian or something I swear to god I was going to lose it.

"Out with it Kitten." I growled at her.

"I can't eat this much." Again she was very quiet as if she expected me to snap and attack her. I sighed, that was it?

"Just eat as much as you can." Sometimes having people afraid of you was just annoying.

She started eating but only got through about half of it.

"The bathroom's opposite the bedroom, go have a shower, you're going to have to borrow my clothes for the time being, I'll drive into town sometime this week and pick up some stuff for you." She stared at me for a moment and was off like a shot, I could hear her bare feet pattering on the stairs.

I pulled out the laptop and connected Stryker's phone into it before I began dragging the files on to an email. I figured I best have him taken out as fast as possible before he could come after me or the kitten and Xavier or Magneto were certainly up for the job.

I was just sending it when she came back down. Her hair was wet and she smelt of my shampoo, she was also wearing one of my shirts and a pair of my boxers that almost reached her knees. The moment I saw her I knew she wasn't going to be wearing them for long.

I hit send and was across the room before she knew what had hit her. I slammed her against the wall and for a moment I saw sheer terror in her eyes.

She obviously thought she'd done something wrong because she immediately started apologising. I cut her off by crushing my lips to hers, it wasn't long before she was responding to me, purring in pleasure as I took her against the wall.

Afterwards as we were both trying to get our breath back I noticed the torn scraps of fabric all over the floor. She was going to need a lot of clothes if I kept tearing them like that. I chuckled, she was flushed red and still pinned against the wall by may weight, her legs wrapped loosely around my waist.

"Poor little Rhea, I destroyed your clothes again didn't I?" She nodded shyly obviously not sure if she should respond. I let her down off the wall, groaning at the loss of contact. She looked exhausted all over again so I sent her back to bed for a nap while I concentrated on severing all ties I had with the outside world. Victor Creed was retiring.

When I was finally done the sun was setting, I threw a joint of beef in the oven and stalked up the stairs to find Rhea. I let out a snarl of rage when I saw the empty bed, assuming that she made a run for it and furious with myself for not keeping a closer eye on her.

I pounced at the window, casting about for her scent when I nearly tripped over her. She was asleep on the floor, curled up in the last pieces of sunlight let in by the glass. Her hair looked like fire in the orange light and she was murmuring in her sleep, too low for me to make out the words.

I sat down on the bed, watching her sleep as I waited for the meat to cook. After a while her calm slumber became agitated and I could smell the fear coming off her as she began to moan and tremble. I got up and put a large paw on her shoulder shaking her.

"Rhea, wake up, Wake Up!" I was worried she was dreaming of me, that I was the one terrorising her sleep.

Her eyes flickered open and there was none of the calm I'd got used to seeing when she woke, they were full of fear as she struggled away from the nightmare. Her eyes focused on me and she whimpered before throwing her arms around my waist and burying her head in my chest.

She came to me for _comfort_? I didn't understand this girl, why on earth did she think I'd be a comfort? Then I remembered what I'd said in the car. _I promise you this Rhea, I'm never going to let anyone else in the world fucking touch you. You're Mine. And I protect what's mine, you've just got to deal with me. _

I wrapped my arms around her, running my claws through her hair until her breathing calmed. When I said that, I had sort of meant I'd protect her from real things, not nightmares, but whatever, she felt good clutched to my chest so who was I to argue?

Eventually she pulled away, she was obviously embarrassed, averting her eyes.

"Thank you." She whispered to me and pressed her lips to mine so softly they were barely touching.

It was her animal I'm fairly sure that was driving her on. Just as I grew attached to her much quicker than I should, she trusted me much quicker than she should. Mates looked after each other, the animal in her knew that, I was her mate, therefore I'd look out for her. Simple as that.

-xCFx-

I'm not really sure what possessed me to kiss him, he was obviously shocked by it, but for the first time in my life I'd felt safe. My father had known what I was since the day I was born, while he wasn't a feral mutant he did have a slight mutation that gave him a heightened sense of smell. I'd been terrified of feral males for as long as I can remember.

Now though, now I was in the arms of one and the fear had gone out of the window. I don't know how to explain it, it was the animals fault, the human part of me was still terrified of him, but now the animal felt safe. Strangely it was an improvement.

He growled into my lips, pulling me closer and running his hands down my back. I shivered. Was this man never tired? He was dragging his lips down my neck when he suddenly groaned and pulled away. I cocked my head at him in a silent question.

"Foods done." He growled and once again scooped me up and carried me down the stairs.

He asked me about the nightmare over dinner and I had to explain the recurring dream centred around a faceless feral male that repeatedly attacked me. He didn't laugh as I expected him to, he just raised an eyebrow and carried on eating.

Our days continued like this until they turned to weeks, months and even years. It didn't really get any easier with Victor, I wasn't any less scared of him than on our first day, things got a little more familiar. I could figure out what set him off, what made him angry.

He never really hit me or anything like that, he tended to do a lot of damage in the bedroom, or anywhere else he decided to have sex, but it wasn't really intentional and to be honest it wasn't like I didn't enjoy it. A couple of times he'd gotten mad whilst holding me and his claws would dig into my flesh but again, he couldn't really control that.

Don't get me wrong, I was under no illusions as to Victors character. He was a murderer and a rapist and from what I could gather he'd enjoyed his job. He never really turned on me though. I never saw the murderous side of him, just the side with an over active mating instinct.

His lust didn't fade, he'd still throw me against a wall or a table or pretty much anything and for a few hours we'd be lost in each other. I never really got much warning, annoyingly it was usually when I was feeling most peaceful.

I was as happy as I'd ever been in the house in the forest. I didn't have to look over my shoulder everyday because I knew Victor was checking for me. One day he asked me if I was completely happy and I told him no, but I was as happy as I'd ever get.

He didn't really understand and made me explain, to this day I still remember my response, probably because to this day it still applies.

"I'm proud of who and what I am, it's put so much strain on my life but I wouldn't change it because then I wouldn't be me. But sometimes I want to be like normal people, go to the cinema or out to eat without having to look over my shoulder. I'm happy here because I'm safe, as you once said I've got no one to fear but you. But still, there's a part of me that wishes there weren't quite so many feral males in the world so that just for a little while I could pretend that I'm not constantly in danger. Just for a little while we could see the world instead of hiding in the woods."

I'm fairly sure he didn't like my answer, I think saying that I wished 'we' could see the world mollified him a little but he was still annoyed so I turned the question back at him.

"You're not completely happy. I can see it. You miss your work, you miss the chase and the kill and the fear that surrounds your victims. But you see Victor, I think you just _need _to chase something."

That simple statement was taken as a challenge and the next day I found myself racing through the trees as he chased after me, and oh, in case you didn't guess, we had sex when he caught me.

He taught me how to fight, properly I mean. I was pretty good already but he was an expert. He seemed especially concerned about me being able to fight of other feral males, not surprising really. He was more than a little possessive and had bitten my neck so many times there was a red mark now where it healed over. He always looked smug whenever he saw it.

Anyway, it was during one of our training sessions that things went seriously wrong, it was a simple 'see how long you can run for before I catch you' sort of a thing and I was pretty far ahead of Victor. Far enough ahead that when I entered a clearing to see a man at the other end I was scared. Properly scared.

His eyes fixed on me the moment I came into view, his pupils dilated and one breath was all I needed to confirm what I already knew. He was a feral mutant. He to inhaled and upon catching my scent began cackling madly, something I was thankful of because it'd alert Victor to his presence.

He wasn't as large as Victor but was certainly larger than me and he had wild silver hair and acid green eyes. I don't know what animal he resembled but I was shocked. I'd only ever seen two feral males in my life, Victor and Logan and they both looked pretty similar. Lots of muscles, mutton chops and some kind of claws. He didn't look anything like them.

"Won't you look at that, it's true! The great Victor Creed retired because he found a little female feral. How sweet! Why don't you come over here petal and we'll get you away from the nasty brute, I'm not going to hurt you. Promise."

He almost hissed his words which unnerved me, I'd known there were reptilian ferals out there, but this guy seemed to be a mix.

I backed up, weighing up my options, the way he was built suggested speed and I wasn't going to get a head start on him so I didn't think running was my best option. Fighting was no good either, he was male and therefore probably much stronger than me. That left me with relatively little to work with.

"_Use what the forest provides you with."_ One of Victors first lessons, but the forest wasn't providing me with much, just trees. Then again, I was good with trees.

I leapt high into the air, catching hold of the branch of an ash tree that hung above me. Hauling myself up I ran along the branch and leapt to another with the grace and agility of an Olympic gymnast. What can I say? My mutation had its perks.

I raced in the direction of Victor, jumping from branch to branch. The unknown mutant was running beneath me, growling threats at me which I just ignored.

Suddenly there was a snarl so full of anger that I almost fell from the branch I was running along. Beneath me I saw Victor leap at the stranger and one hell of a fight break out. I dropped to the floor so I could help if I was needed, though I highly doubted I would be.

To my horror I watched the unfamiliar mutant sprout spines on his arms that tore deep into Victors flesh, making it easy for the stranger to break his neck and fling him aside.

The feral male leapt towards me, grabbing my shoulders and throwing me roughly against a tree. He didn't bother with talk, just began ripping at my jeans, eventually tearing them from me completely. I was struggling desperately against him, tears dripping down my face as he dragged my thighs open.

Before he could even think of touching my further a large hand appeared around his neck and dragged him bodily from me. Victor held the mutant up with one arm around his throat and growled so low that I almost missed it.

"She is mine, you hear me? You don't get to touch her, hell you don't even get to look at her, and you damn sure don't get to make her cry! She. Is. Mine." And with that Victor tore his head from his body.

He stalked over to me, his entire body trembling with rage. I'm not going to lie to you, as I stood there slumped against that tree I was expecting some pretty rough sex. He surprised me though, taking me into his arms and licking the tears off my face as I sobbed.

"Shhhh, come on Kitten, why don't we get you back to the house." He carried me bridal style back to the house, set me down on the bed and then turned to leave.

"Please don't go." I whispered out to him, I really didn't want to be left alone right then. But when he turned around his face was so conflicted I didn't know what to think.

"I can't stay right now, I'm using a whole lot of control just to stop myself claiming what's mine Kitten so if you think I can hold you without... Think again Rhea." He had his eyes closed when he'd finished and I could literally see the point where his control broke.

"Fucking hell." I heard him swear before he stormed towards me and began kissing and biting every inch of bare flesh he could find.

"Say you're mine!" He demanded once he was balls deep inside me. I actually feared him more then, than at any other point in my life. I shuddered to think what would have happened if I'd denied him then, the animal was truly in control and it was terrifying.

"I-I'm yours." I managed to stutter out somewhere between the panting and the mewling. He gave a giant roar of triumph and began moving within me, biting deep into my neck again as we both fell over the edge.

It was hard and bloody. He broke my pelvis twice, broke my leg and even cracked a couple of ribs. I was covered in my own blood from where his claws had ripped into my sensitive flesh and I was bruised from head to toe.

I was healed by morning, but my body ached and I was unbelievably tired. Victor scooped me up again, taking me to the shower and washing off the dried blood, there was something on his mind, but he didn't share until we were sat eating breakfast.

"I'm going to have to go away for a while Kitten, four days tops." I stared at him. He was joking right? He was going to leave me alone after what happened yesterday?

He'd been away before, but only for short day trips to buy food and usually clothes for me as he had a tendency to shred them. But four days?

"Look Rhea, I know you're scared, but I'm doing this to make sure you're safe. That... _thing_ yesterday said that 'it's true' which worries me Kitten because it makes me think he heard it from someone else. I don't know how he found the house, but I'm going to have to go back and see if I left some kind of trail behind."

It made sense, but I still wasn't happy about it, what if another mutant came back? Could I really fight them off? I paused.

"I need you to do something for me before you leave." He looked up at me curiously.

"What?"

"A knife, a machete, sword, axe, I don't care. I just want something in every room that I can take a head off with, just in case someone comes calling with a healing factor." He nodded,

"I think I can do that." He grinned his most animal grin.

"You reckon you can take them out little kitten?" I grinned back at him.

"I learnt from the best." He laughed loudly before he went to gather up the weapons from the basement.

Once he'd hidden all the weapons and made sure I knew where they were he set about chaining me to the wall. It's not as bad as you think, he doesn't take chances with me, doesn't want me running away. Not that I would. I doubt I'd find a place as safe as this.

It's one chain, connected to the wall and secured around my ankle, long enough that I can move through the whole house and even sit on the porch if I wanted to. It'd never bothered me, didn't really make much difference to me.

I walked to the door with him joking about it.

"If this tangles I'm blaming you." I told him and he just chuckled before reaching down and capturing my lips in a possessive kiss. He stoked the red mark on my neck, whispered 'mine' against my skin and told me to stay safe. He pulled his dog tags off and fixed them around my neck. Then he was gone.

I know you think I've got some kind of Stockholm syndrome, but you're wrong. I'm here against my will, I think that's fair to say, but there are reasons I don't try to leave, and they're not Victor. I was screwed from the moment I was born. There is nowhere safe for me in the world, living with Victor isn't safe, but it's preferable to the alternative.

Things went wrong when I went to get a glass of water. I turned on the taps and nothing came out. I frowned. Something must be wrong with the pipes, or the underground well that provided this place with water had dried up.

Not a big worry, Victor kept barrels of water in the little barn. I pattered out bare foot onto the porch and started in the direction of the barn. This was the point when the chain around my leg ran out of slack. I couldn't reach the barn.

I was a couple of meters away from the only water source available, I couldn't reach it and Victor was only back in four days. Crap.

**Again, congrats if you reached the end. Next chapter will have the X men in it, along with a couple of others that I'm way to fond of to leave out. I'm probably going to mess with the time lines because I love tons of characters from origins and I really don't like the idea of them being old.**

**Feel free to review and if you notice any mistakes, please point them out.**

**CF.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, Chapter 3. No lemons in this one, sorry to disappoint, our lovely X-men make an appearance alongside a few other of my favourites.**

**I don't own any of Marvel's plots or characters, if you recognise them, I don't own them.**

**Mentions rape again, don't read if you're offended.**

**CF.**

For three days I faded in and out of consciousness. I was curled up just inside the door so I'd be the first thing Victor saw when he walked in. At least that had been the plan two days ago, now I could barely remember where I was.

I'd never died of dehydration before, I'd suffocated before and then I'd just woken up almost immediately afterwards, not fun, but at least it wasn't permanent. I was fairly sure the same would happen here, but I wished I'd hurry up and die already.

My senses weren't great by this point, but even then I couldn't miss the sound of jet engines touching down outside the house. I didn't have the strength to open my eyes so I relied on my other senses.

I could smell the jet exhaust, as well as the scents of four people. They were mutants, that much I could tell and the small part of my brain still working was relieved to register that none of them were feral. There were two males and two females. And one of the males appeared to be doing a lot of talking.

"You sure this is the place? Seems real peaceful to me, I've always liked Canada, maybe we should go on vacation up here sometime. I mean if anyone deserves a vacation it's us, we only save people every day. Not for a long time, a week, maybe ten days. It could be fun, I'm thinking campfires, marshmallows, we could go hiking! Not that I actually like hiking, it's just walking only steeper."

"Will you shut up Wade! Do you ever stop talking? We're on a mission here, and yes, I'm sure this is the right place, the Professor sent us the co-ordinates, she might be inside."

That was the other male, and from the tone he was using he'd been putting up with 'Wade' for a long time.

"Well, I was just asking, I remember that time in Colorado where you just kept insisting we were in the right place, but then it turned out that the kid was on the other side of the state, just saying you're not the most reliable person when it comes to directions."

"Do you want to lead this team?"

"Sure, I could well do it, it'd be a blast." Apparently this answer shocked the other male because there was a pause and some spluttering before he replied.

"Well tough, the Professor put me in charge."

"You're always in charge! If you ask me it's time you moved over and let someone else have a go, maybe I have a talent for leadership that you're stifling." I could actually hear the other guys teeth gritting.

"Scott honey, just ignore him, let's find the girl and get out of here." That was one of the females. The other female chipped in and spoke in a slight accent.

"Yes, the sooner we're out of Wades company the better for everyone concerned."

"Hey, I have feelings you know! And I'm right, why is he always the leader?" Everyone was just ignoring him by this point.

If I had enough strength I'd be scared around about now, instead all my concentration was focused on not passing out again.

I heard the door open and I could smell the male they called Wade enter first.

"Oh shit, are you okay Beautiful? Hey Cyclops, get over here and blast this chain. Jean? Is she okay?"

I felt my torso being lifted onto someone's lap, going by smell, I'd say it was Wade. Soft fingers glanced across my pulse and a finger lifted up my eyelid, I caught a blurry image of something red and black before my eyelid was dropped again.

"She's severely dehydrated, she's also conscious. Keep talking to her Wade, it's what you do best."

I heard her get up, lean out the door and shout to the other female.

"Storm! Get her running, we're going to need to get the girl back to Hank ASAP."

Wade was talking to me, obviously trying to get me to 'hang on' I didn't have the strength to tell them to leave me alone, that I'd be fine.

"Come on Beautiful, Hold on and we'll get you back to the mansion, you're going to be just fine. You're never going to have to see this hell hole ever, ever again. Pretty girl like you, can't go dying on me, I'll take it personally, think it's just you trying to get out of a date with me."

I heard the other male, Scott return from further inside the house.

"There's no water in the pipes and nothing to drink in the fridge, someone's just chained her up and left her to die, here move out the way I'll blast the chain."

I felt something connect with the floor by my feet and the chain at my ankle went slack. I was scooped up by Wade and I felt myself being carried from the house, my last thought before I lost consciousness was of just how much trouble I was going to be in when Victor found me.

-xCFx-

I sighed in relief as I finally turned on to the gravel path, the trip had been a complete success, it turned out that some feral (now dead) had caught the Kittens scent as we fled from Vegas but lost it once we were in the air.

He'd told a friend of his (now dead) who told another friend (now dead) who'd told our recent visitor. Our recent visitor had looked through some old paper files at my bank, and had been investigating every property I owned.

My bank manager (now dead) was very apologetic. Not that it did him much good.

Now, I was anxious to get home to Rhea, four days was far too long to go without feeling her writhing underneath me.

I was almost whistling as I parked up next to the house, I didn't care what she was doing I was having her the moment I got in.

I knew as soon as I stepped on to the porch that there was something wrong, it was raining so the scents were hard to trace, but something was off. I slammed open the door yelling her name.

I stopped short when I saw the chain, Something, no idea what had smashed open the links. She was gone.

Fury like I had never felt before rose inside me. _She'd run_. I'd tried for her, changed my nature, been gentle and she'd run away. When I got my hands on her she was going to wish she'd never been born, and if in some way she'd been taken from me, those who took her would beg for death.

I roared in anger before leaping back to the car. I had contacts that could find her for me. The world would tremble until I had her back at my side. Victor Creed was back.

-xCFx-

I awoke in a strange place. The walls were shiny and everything looked sanitary and clean. I was still in my clothes, a simple t-shirt and denim shorts with tights. I took a breath and was immediately aware of someone in the room. Male, late fifties-early sixties, mutant, but not a feral.

I back flipped off the table, ripping away the medical pads that had been monitoring me and landing with my back against the wall. I tensed, fixing my eyes upon the male mutant I relaxed a little. He was in a wheelchair, the animal saw him as little threat.

"Where am I?" I growled at him.

"Westchester, New York, you're in my school for the gifted, my people brought you here for medical attention."

I looked down at myself, no blood.

"I don't need medical attention." I answered back at him. He raised an eyebrow as if the response was familiar.

"You were dying of dehydration." Oh, that bit I remembered, but it wasn't a big deal, Victor was due back the next day. Victor. Oh hell.

"How long have I been here?" 'Please don't let it be more than a few hours.' I begged God.

He hesitated.

"HOW LONG!" I yelled at him.

"You've been here almost five days, you've been unconscious the whole time, although Jean tells me you were conscious when they first found you, perhaps you remember."

I was no longer paying any attention. Five days. I'd been gone for five days.

"He's going to kill me. He's actually going to kill me." I sunk down the wall and hugged my knees to my chest. The man wheeled over to me.

"It's okay, you're quite safe here." He smelt genuinely concerned. I really didn't care.

"Who the hell are you?" I hissed at him.

"My name is Charles Xavier, it was my people who brought you here." My head snapped up, my eyes narrowing.

"Who gave you the authority to do that? Why do you have any right? You should have just left me where I was, then I wouldn't be in this mess. Take me back. You brought me here, take me back!"

He looked shocked.

"You were dying, if we hadn't brought you here-"

"I don't care." I cut him off, "Either take me back or let me the hell out of here, because I swear to God you do not want to be in my way right now." I was scared now, terribly scared.

"Oh God he'll think I've run away. You have to take me back."

"Look, you don't have to be scared of this man, he can't get you here."

"You don't know anything! You've got no idea what you've interfered with, he wasn't trying to kill me, he didn't know the water was going to run out. He was protecting me."

He looked at me with contemplating eyes.

"I see we have done you a disservice young lady, we will of course take you back, however please know that there is always a safe haven for you here. I'll ask Scott to prep the jet." He wheeled out of the room.

Thank God. But it still didn't solve my problems, chances were that Victor had already returned, realised my absence and left again to track me down. Five days. I couldn't believe it, I didn't think he'd ever forget this.

I couldn't believe I'd been out for five days, I approached the medical apparatus beside the bed I'd been lying on. I picked up a needle and sniffed. Aaah, sedatives. Unlike Victor I wasn't immune to sedatives or anaesthetic, in fact I wasn't immune to any drugs, my body just let them kill me and then healed, it wasn't fun.

A man with red sunglasses stepped into the room.

"Hi there, I'm Scott, the jets ready if you want to come get on board."

He smelt vaguely familiar so he was probably one of the guys who 'rescued' me, he also smelled genuine and kind and very confused. He led me to the jet and had me take a seat before buckling himself into the pilot seat.

A very beautiful woman with pale hair and coffee coloured skin took the seat next to him and turned back to smile at me.

"I'm Storm, all this talk about the new girl and no one seems to know your name, you mind sharing?" She had a well meaning face and again smelt genuine so I had no trouble smiling back.

"I'm Rhea, Rhea Nightingale." By this time Scott had got us in the air and set the jet to autopilot.

He came back to sit in the seat opposite mine.

"Are you sure you want to go back? I mean, I don't want to pressure you or anything, and we don't know a lot about your situation it's just, we're good. I mean really good. We can protect you from this guy if that's what you're worried about."

I smiled at him, he was genuinely concerned and they were obviously well meaning, maybe I shouldn't blame them so much.

"You're going to need to be good, if he's there when we get back then he's going to try to rip you to shreds." I told them, they exchanged looks.

"Are you sure this is a guy that you're safe with?" asked Storm. I started laughing, I mean really laughing, the idea of me being safe with anyone was ludicrous. The two of looked at each other obviously thinking I'd gone crazy.

"I'm as safe as I'll ever be." I told them, but they didn't look convinced.

"So we can't help you, but maybe you could help us." I looked at Scott curiously.

"We help people, young mutants. That's what the school is for, mutants that need a place in the world, our team of 'X-men' as the students call us, we protect them, sometimes we fly out and help them, bring them back with us, other times we're actually protecting the school from people like the FoH."

"FoH?" The name rang a bell.

"Friends of humanity, basically they hate mutants." Supplied Storm.

"Anyway, you could help us, fight with us, we also teach the students. I know you say this guy wasn't trying to hurt you and that's fine, we believe you, but it sure seems like you're running from something, and I know there's a place for you at the school, we can keep you safe."

For a moment I let myself think about it, could I really live with them, lead a semi normal life with these people. They seemed as close as a family and I liked the sound of the work they did. I liked the idea of helping kids who had no one else.

I shook myself back to reality. I liked these people, I really did, I didn't want them to get hurt because of me. Victor would find me eventually, no matter what these people said, I honestly didn't think that four of them and a wheelchair bound professor could stop him.

I shook my head at them,

"I'm sorry, seriously I would love to, it sounds almost ideal but I can't."

Storm looked disappointed,

"Is it because of the guy?"

"Yes, I can't leave him." I made it sound like I couldn't bear it, but I meant that it was physically impossible. He'd never let me.

"But anyway, tell me about your school."

The school that Xavier built, the more they described it the more I wished I'd held on a few minutes. I wished I could have seen it, the 'gifted' children, the beautiful gardens, everything. Every word they spoke of it was so filled with love that it made my heart heavy with longing.

I wanted it like I'd never wanted anything before, my life had always been about survival, yet here was a chance to really live. And I couldn't take it.

A beeping noise interrupted Scott's description of Cerebro,

"We're coming up on the house, buckle up ladies." He moved back to the pilot seat and began the descent.

It was raining when I exited the jet, this annoyed me. No at single drop when I was dying of thirst but the heavens decide to open now. Victor did not emerge from the house at the sound of the jet so it was fairly safe to say he wasn't there.

Cyclops followed me out, he caught my questioning glance.

"We aren't just going to leave you here alone, not when there is probably still no water." I smiled at him.

"Is he here?" He asked me.

"I don't think so, he would probably have come out at the noise." I ran up the steps on to the porch and through the door, it had to have been days since he got back but I could still smell his anger.

I motioned for Cyclops to stop moving and listened hard, it was silent. No heart beat, he was already gone.

"He came back, but he's left again now." I turned around to see Scott scooping a piece of paper off the floor.

"Here." He handed it to me. I unfolded it with slightly shaking hands.

_Rhea.  
If you're reading this I probably can't be mad at you. The way I see it there's only two possible reasons that you weren't here when I got back. Either you've been kidnapped or you've run away. Either way, the chances of you returning here are next to none, if you ran you've got no reason to come back and if you've been taken then I doubt you can. So I'm not coming back either. If by some chance you are reading this, don't stay here. Find somewhere safe to hide and I Will Find You. Stay Safe.  
Victor._

I read through it twice and a slightly devious idea settled in my head. _Xavier's school is safe._ I thought to myself with a smile.

I grabbed a pen out of one of the draws and quickly wrote _message received_ on the back and placing it on a table, just in case he did come back. Then I turned to Cyclops.

"That offer still open?" I asked him. A grin spread across his face.

When the jet landed back at the mansion there were three people waiting for us, the Professor looked surprised to see me which made me happy. Scott had said he was telepathic and I was glad of something that confirmed his assurances that the Professor respected privacy.

"I'm very glad to see you again, I hope this time you'll be staying with us a little longer." I smiled nervously at him. Scott, noticing my nerves took introductions into his own hands.

"Professor I know you've already met, but this is Rhea Nightingale, Rhea, this is the Professor, Wade Wilson and my wife Jean Grey." We all smiled at each other and Wade threw me a wink. I watched as Scott and Jean embrace sweetly and I ended up talking to Wade as he offered to show me around the mansion.

"Well, you're even prettier when you're up and walking around." He told me, obviously a shameless flirt.

"So those were the X-men?" I asked him as he showed me the underground facilities.

"Most of them, you've got two others to meet but they're on a mission, and then I suppose Hank counts, the others should be back soon."

"Are you often on missions?"

"Not this much usually, but everyone's on edge, it's the UN summit next month and the Professor's convinced that Magneto's going to try something."

"Who's Magneto?"

"Oh, crazy wacko mutant that's convinced that we're all going to war with humanity. Idiot if you ask me, if we end up going to war then I'm fairly sure he'll be the one who starts it." I smiled at him, Wade was easy to talk to.

He finished up showing me around downstairs and when I asked about the room at the far end of the corridor he told me it was 'Xavier's big round room for finding people with' and didn't elaborate. Weirdo.

We went upstairs in a small lift that had me a little closer to Wade than I was altogether comfortable with. He shot me a suggestive look and I burst into giggles.

Once upstairs he was almost immediately overwhelmed by a large crowd of teenage girls who all seemed to want to know how his 'uber' important mission went, if he was injured or if he liked their new lipstick. Eventually he got rid of them and turned to me looking really pleased with himself.

"Oh yeah, they think I'm a hunk." I burst out laughing and he cracked a smile. Suddenly there was a teenager, about 16 in front of us,

"Errm, Hi." He looked a bit confused at me but then turned to Wade, "Rogue wanted me to ask if Wolverine is back yet."

"Not yet, but he should be back real soon." The kid thanked him and then walked away,

"Come on, let's go grab a drink." He dragged me into a large kitchen and sat me down.

"You like Cola?" I nodded at him and he passed me a bottle before sitting at the table opposite me.

"Who was the kid?" I asked him.

"Bobby Drake aka Iceman. Him and his girlfriend Rogue are supposed to be the next to join the X men, after Pete of course."

"Pete?"

"Colossus, he can turn his skin to metal."

"What can Bobby and Rogue do? I'm guessing Bobby has something to do with ice right?"

"Yeah, Bobby can create ice, but he can also cover himself in it so he's near indestructible. Rogue's is a bit of a taboo subject, the poor kid can't touch anyone or she'll drain their life force, and when it's a mutant she gets their powers for a while."

"That must be so hard for her. Wait, you haven't told me what you can do!"

He laughed at me,

"Well, I have a pretty awesome power if I may say so myself, doesn't sound like much but when you rope it together with a pair of katanas it doesn't half kick ass. I've got incredibly fast reactions, fast enough to cut a bullet flying through the air, I'm also really quick and a little more agile than your average person."

"Talking too much, is that part of your mutation too?"

"Oh haha, you're a riot, do tell, what can you do?"

I grinned at him,

"I'm a feral, so a little animalistic, I heal very fast, other than that I'm mostly like you. I'm very agile, I have quicker reactions and I run pretty fast. I also instinctively know where to hit you to hurt you the most, I'm good with pressure points."

"Feral huh? Does that mean you're an animal in the bedroom?" He asked with a very suggestive look. I feigned outrage.

"Wade Wilson you are a shameless flirt! How rude of you to ask such things, especially in a school where innocent ears could hear." I broke into giggles and he began laughing with me too.

"Although yeah actually, I guess I am. And in a fight, I could totally kick your ass." He laughed,

"Dream on Rhea, no one beats Wade Wilson."

"You want to know why it'd be so easy to beat you Wade Wilson? Because you'd be holding back, big mistake, I'm not as helpless as I look."

"Oh I'm sure you're not." He winked at me again.

Before I could respond I heard a commotion outside as yet another person got bombarded by questions from the group of hormonal teenage girls.

"The boys must be back from their mission." Wade had noticed my lack of attention.

I turned back to smile at him and heard a voice from behind me.

"Gambit heard that we got a new girl, you've not been keepin her awl to yourself have you Wade?" came the Louisiana drawl.

I whipped around, I knew that voice.

"Remy!" I leapt of the chair and hugged him. He seemed stunned.

"Rhea? Is that you Cher? My God I never thought I'd see you again. I'm so sorry Rhea, we came after you I swear, me, the big guy and that teleporter, but you were already in the air. Oh Cher! I'm so glad you're safe" He picked me up and spun me around.

"Hey, I was flirting with her!" That was Wade behind us and Gambit tipped his hat to him.

"I'll let you get right back to it." He turned back to me, "I got to go see the Professor about the kid we picked up, but when I get back you and me are goin ta do some catching up, alright Cher?"

I smiled at him and nodded, he tipped his hat to me and disappeared out the room.

"So you know Gambit huh?" I turned back to Wade.

"Yeah, I met him in Vegas a few years back, I lived in an apartment opposite a club he played cards at. I was the only person he'd ever come across that could tell when he was cheating."

"I can never tell when he's cheating! How can you tell?"

"I can smell when people lie to me, I think it's fairly easy to smell when they're cheating."

"Smell lies huh? Are your senses really that good?"

"Oh yeah, and if you were wondering, that gaggle of girls was much more aroused when you walked past then when Remy did." He nearly choked on his soda.

"You can smell arousal! I'm so screwed. But they liked me more right? Hah take that you Cajun."

I just grinned at him, he really did never stop talking. I heard the girls questioning yet another person, he was asking Wade a question before he'd even come through the door.

"Is it the new girl that's got Gambit in such an excitable m-" He stopped when he saw me, I stopped drinking when I saw him. This wasn't happening, this was some kind of nightmare, this could not be happening.

It was Logan, as in Logan from a few years back on the worst night of my life when everything went wrong.

"Hey Logan, how'd the mission go?" I could hear Wade still talking behind me.

I slipped of the bar stool, he took a step towards me, I took a step back. This was horrifyingly familiar.

"Come here." His voice had gone deeper and his eyes had turned darker with lust.

"Is that anyway to greet a newbie? That's rude even for you." Wade was still talking.

I was ready to bolt and he could see it. The most sickening thing was that I could see the war going on inside his eyes. This was a nice guy, he didn't want to do this to me, but he wasn't in control, the animal was. He took another step forward and I lost it, I flipped over the table putting it between us.

Wade was getting more and more confused.

"Seriously Logan stop it, you're obviously upsetting her, leave her alone." Logan stretched his arms out, three silver claws emerged from between his knuckles on each hand and I finally understood what the metallic noise had been that night.

Wade took a step back, placing himself in front of me, but he wasn't armed, he was going to get himself hurt.

"Logan, it's okay mate, what the hell is going on? CYCLOPS, GAMBIT!" I placed a hand on his shoulder, ready to shove him out of the way if Logan charged.

"You're going to want to move out of my way pal." Logan wasn't even looking at Wade as he spoke to him, instead he was staring right at me.

"You best get him to move darlin if you don't want him to get hurt." I was shocked at this, Victor wouldn't have even thought about saying that, he'd just rip Wade to pieces for being too close to me. Logan obviously had more control, and more will to exercise it. Not enough control though, he still wanted what they always wanted.

"Wade, move, _move now_." I hissed at him, he was shocked but he moved out of the way. One of the teenage girls peaked around the door, obviously drawn by Wades shout. Wade turned to her.

"Go get the X men, any you can find, send them here. Quickly!" Logan growled at him but didn't take his eyes off me, any courage I had was fast running out. Without Wade between us, Logan looked a whole lot more menacing.

Logan's patience ran out before my courage, he lunged at me and I again flipped over the table and sprinted out of the door. I had no real idea of the layout of this place and it wasn't like I could hide when he could so easily track me by scent, I ran full pelt down the corridor, wrenched open the door at the far end and found myself in the entrance hall.

I was about to make for the front doors when a strong arm caught me around the waist and crushed me against a broad chest. Like I said, horrifyingly familiar.

I gave a yip of surprise and attempted to wriggle free but the arm just got tighter.

"What the hell is going on?" Cyclops was at the top of the stairs with Jean, they were back in regular clothes and Scott was wearing red sunglasses.

Logan had backed us up against the wall and Wade had appeared through the door we came through, somehow now wielding a samurai sword.

"I swear to God he just went crazy and attacked her." He shouted up to Scott.

"Rhea!" That was Remy who'd just entered from yet another door and was looking at the scene with mounting horror. "I'm so sorry Cher I forgot, Scott, she's a feral mutant!" Cyclops looked like this meant absolutely nothing to him where as Jean gasped.

"Oh my God! Logan, put her down!"

"So she's a feral mutant, so what?" That was Wade, things were getting confusing now, I could feel Logan shifting, trying to find the quickest way out of here. Jean was explaining the situation but they were all taking too long. He was going to make his move soon.

_He doesn't want to do this_ I reminded myself and did the only thing left that I could do. I wriggled around in his arms until I was facing him, he growled at me, a warning to stay put.

"Shhhh, it's okay, I'm not going anywhere." I murmured to him, I stroked my hands across his chest, slowly and softly like I was trying to calm a wild beast. Which in effect I was.

I felt him relax a little under my hands, the human part of him putting up less of a fight when I seemed more willing. I stroked my hands up his neck and onto his face, running my hands across his cheeks, his eyes closed for a moment in pleasure and I felt a real pang of guilt for what I was about to do.

Once my hands were in the right place I strengthened my grip and pulled simultaneously, I felt his neck snap and his body collapsed on the floor. Everything was silent.

"Logan!" Several people shouted at once.

"He'll heal." I whispered, "They always heal." People were still shouting madly, Jean was running down the stairs towards him but I stepped forwards and put out a hand to stop her.

"He'll heal." I said it much louder and everyone heard. "Believe me, he'll always heal." Everyone was staring at me now.

"Figured out what I'm running from yet Scott?" I called up to him, my voice twisted and bitter. Suddenly I was exhausted, "Is this the exit?" I asked them, pointing my thumb over my shoulder at the huge door.

"You aren't leaving?" asked Jean. I laughed.

"Do you really think I can stay?" I turned to leave, averting my eyes from Logan's lifeless body that lay a few feet from the door

"No Cher!" Remy ran forward and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"You can't leave, I know what it's like out there for you, you won't be safe, Gambit can't let that happen Cher." I sighed, not wanting to argue with him. I heard a noise behind him and I tensed. Surely he couldn't have healed from a broken spine that fast. Could he?

My senses flared and I realised exactly what was going to happen.

"No!" I wrenched hard on Remy's shoulders spinning us around and effectively swapping places with him, I felt a sharp, burning pain in my stomach and looked down to see three sharp knives pointing out.

Logan retracted the claws and growled a gruff 'Sorry' into my ear before looping an arm around my waist and dragging me back against him.

Remy was frozen, staring at the place where the knives had come out of my stomach, the wounds were already beginning to heal. I think he realised right then that if I hadn't moved he'd probably be dying on the floor.

They all seemed to realise the gravity of the situation, Logan was willing to kill a friend for merely touching me. This was bad.

"You ruined my shirt." I told him. He chuckled in my ear.

"You broke my neck."

"Fair enough, why don't we call it quits and you let me go?" He tightened his grip around my stomach.

"I guess that's a no." I muttered and he chuckled again. That chuckle was doing things to me, not good things considering my situation. I tried to distract him before he smelt my arousal.

"This is all my fault, I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? God you're one of a kind you, shouldn't I be the one that's sorry?"

"You don't want to do this." I told him.

"I don't know, with you smelling like that, even the human part of me's warming to the idea of 'doing this" I blushed furiously. The other X men were too far away to hear the very quiet conversation we were having, even Remy looked lost.

There was a quick movement behind us and Logan was ripped away from me. I fell to the floor, a little relieved that I could put some distance between us, I turned to see Logan struggling in the arms of a large blue man with long hair wearing a designer suit. I had to look twice.

For a moment I was worried that I was dealing with another feral mutant, but his scent told me he was a perfectly average mutant so I relaxed a little and got up off the floor. At this moment Logan got free and charged back towards me.

Reacting instinctively I flipped up into the air, wrapped my legs around his neck and snapped it before landed flawlessly on my feet. Thank God me and Victor perfected that move I thought as Logan's body crashed to the floor a few feet to my left. Everyone looked shocked.

"Jean, hold him in place." Scott told her and she raised a hand, obviously accessing some kind of power, "Wade, Gambit, help her, and try not to get stabbed. Hey, Kitty, run get the Professor, I think he's in his office. Rhea, if this is the way every feral mutant reacts when they see you there is no chance in hell I'm letting you walk out that door."

They dragged Logan into one of the lifts and took him down stairs, why the hell they had cells in a school was anyone's guess but he was soon secured in one. The Professor, who had been filled in by this point apparently wanted to speak to me so I found myself sitting in his office.

"Rhea, I can't help wondering why you didn't mention your mutation sooner, are you ashamed of it?" I shook my head quickly.

"It's nothing like that, I just forgot, well I didn't forget as such, oh I don't know. It just didn't come up, I told Wade about it just before Logan came home. I guess I'm so used to people knowing instinctively that I just didn't think to mention it."

"Okay, this man you were with before, was he a feral mutant?" I nodded shyly.

"Were you held against your will?" I instinctively touched the dog tags around my neck before I answered.

"I'm not really sure, I was certainly taken there against my will, Remy can tell you that story it's just, it wasn't bad there. And I had no idea that places like this existed, with people like Wade and Scott who aren't just able, but willing to help me. I thought if I somehow escaped, that I'd just be running from place to place until another feral male caught me. Staying just seemed like the preferable alternative."

"Miss Nightingale, I told you before that there is a safe haven for you here if you need it and I'm certainly going to honour that considering the circumstances. We have quite a few options here to consider. I've had a brief word with Gambit and he tells me that after your last meeting with Logan in Vegas that his mind seemed to clear once you left. In fact, he even seemed determined to help you." I looked up at him, surprised by this.

"Logan is a good man, and I'm positive that he doesn't want to harm you in anyway, unfortunately his instincts are driving him on." I nodded to show my understanding.

"When I've finished talking to you here I'm going to go downstairs and offer to enter Logan's mind, from there I may be able to repress, at least partially these instincts. If this doesn't work, or he refuses to participate then we have other options to consider. I have a number of properties around the country that work as temporary housing for students before they come here, we could easily relocate you to one of these with a couple of my X men, I'm sure Gambit and Wade would be willing volunteers." I grinned at this.

"From there you could run missions like any other of the X men as well as being protected from, let's call it unwanted interest."

This man astounded me. I'd met very few genuinely good people in my life, I could probably count them on one hand. But I looked at this school, everything he'd built, why he'd built it, what he did here and I found for once in my life I had faith in good deeds.

"Professor, I honestly don't know what to say. Your help is more generous than anything I've ever been offered and I will gladly accept it. I'm not sure if you know what you've given me Professor, all my life I've survived and you're giving me a chance to live."

The Professor smiled at me, we sat together in his office, two of the rarest creatures on earth. A female feral and a good man.

-xCFx-

Bloody hell, my neck hurt. What happened? I woke up to find myself in a small cell, hell I hadn't been captured by Wacko scientists or something had I? I looked around and to my shock I was in one of Xavier's cells.

What the hell did I do? I thought back and could only remember getting back after the mission, talking to Xavier about the kid, after that everything was blank. I noticed a movement outside the bars so I stood up to investigate.

It was Gambit, shuffling a pack of cards. Since Vegas I hadn't seen the Cajun for almost 15 years before Rogue and I ended up here. Apparently Magneto was after me, like I gave a shit.

"Hey Cajun, what the hell happened?" He looked up at me and glared. There was a scent in the air, something soft and sweet, very enticing and sort of familiar. I stopped breathing when I realised what it was. Oh crap. Everything came flooding back. The female feral.

"Oh hell, Gambit I'm sorry. Are you alright? Is she alright?"

"You almost stabbed me, you did stab Rhea, along with scaring the shit out of her and trying to rape her! Look Logan, she don't want you, not like that so jus leave her the hell alone, all right?"

His accent got thicker when he was angry and his cards were beginning to glow red. I sighed, slumping down the wall so I was sat next to the bars.

"I didn't mean to... Oh hell. Poor kid."

"She's fine, she's just finished talking to me, I believe Jean is getting her something to eat." I looked up to see the Professor and Scott coming towards us. Wade was hovering behind them looking very hostile, not that we had a great relationship to start with.

"Professor, look I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, I, I'm just sorry." I was getting uncomfortable with this, I wasn't used to apologising.

"Logan, I'm completely aware that you weren't in control and so is Rhea but we have a problem here that needs to be addressed, we can hardly ignore it."

"I'll leave, you've seen the way we react around her, she needs your protection so I'll leave and she can stay here. Just give me a minute to say goodbye to Rogue and I'll be gone."

"How do we know this isn't a ploy to get out so you can go attack her again?" Wade was glaring at me. As angry as Gambit seemed, the Cajun did not appear to appreciate this accusation, neither it would seem did Cyclops because at the same time they turned to him.

"Shut the hell up Wade."

"Wade, accusations like that aren't helpful, Logan is in control again now." The Professor then turned back to me.

"Logan, I've talked to Rhea and we've come up with a couple of options. I think, if you allow me to, that I can enter your mind and tweak your instincts a little, just enough that you're in control when she'd around. Of course if you don't want to-" I cut him off.

"You can do that? Then we can both stay?" he nodded, then I nodded.

"I like that option. Do we do it now?" I didn't like the idea of waiting.

"I'm afraid it's more than a little complex, I'm going to need a good night's sleep before I try anything." Disappointed I nodded at him,

"Thanks Professor."

"I'm afraid you'll have to stay here tonight Logan, we really can't be taking chances." I nodded again, it was easier than talking.

The three of them left, Gambit approached the bars,

"You all right in there big guy? You want some blankets or something? Hey, how about a game of poker?"

"I ain't playing poker with you Cajun, you cheat and you take all my money."

Gambit put a hand over his heart in a mock offended manner. I gave him a rare smile. Gambit was the first real connection I made here. I liked the Cajun and he'd helped me out back in Vegas. I'd found the island, it had been abandoned and for God knows what reason Kayla's body had been there, not mauled as I'd thought, but shot through the head, I'd been really confused.

Now, 15 years down the line I'd woken up in this place with him and Wade arguing over who knew me more, that had been almost a year ago now. It was the UN summit next month and I'd told the Professor that after that I was leaving, I think we both knew I wasn't.

Gambit had moved closer and was now stood outside the bars shuffling his cards in what he obviously thought was a tempting manner. For a moment I had the urge to rip him to shreds, my claws came out and I stumbled backwards to stop myself.

"Whoa! What the hell Logan?" He sounded alarmed. I quickly realised what my issue was, the soft scent of the female was coming from him, they'd obviously hugged or something and the animal really didn't like it.

"You smell like her, I really don't like it, get out of here Gambit before I start trying to cut through the bars." There was no hostility when I said that, I was just about holding myself in check. I think he realised this because he nodded to me and disappeared, long brown coat whipping around the corner as he left.

I sank back down to the floor by the bars and closed my eyes. This was going to be a long night. I could still feel her against me, soft and warm. I could feel her fingers ghosting across my chest, up my neck and onto my face, for a moment it seemed like she'd wanted it, for a moment I gave up the fight and went along with the animal, I thought if she wanted it, where was the harm?

Who was I kidding? There was plenty of harm, I wasn't Victor, I didn't get off on seeing women bleeding and broken, and that's what she'd be if I let the animal have it's way. I remembered the feeling of my claws sinking into her stomach and I shuddered with horror.

I could remember her scent so well, it clung to my senses, it was almost like she was still in the room, in fact it was exactly like she was still in the room. I cracked open an eye. She was stood on the other side of the bars.

The animal in me roared in frustration, here she was, alone, unprotected and very close and I couldn't do anything about it. I moved to get up but she quickly sat down on the other side of the bars so I remained in my position on the floor. We were almost shoulder to shoulder.

She smelt like pine and fresh snowfall. Her auburn hair fell in messy curls over chocolate brown eyes. It was longer than I remembered from Vegas, almost reaching her waist. Her lips looked like petals and I realised that in all my time holding her, I'd never kissed her.

"I'm Sorry." She whispered the words and she sounded heartbroken. By now the animal was settling down, realising the futility of trying to get to her in here, however, upon hearing her tone the protective side flared up, not happy about her sorrow.

"Why the hell are you sorry?" I wasn't going to be much of a comfort, I never was good with words.

"This is your home, I've just walked in here, and now you're locked in a cell, everyone thinks you're the bad guy and I'm making you act in ways you don't want to, I'm sorry Logan."

She knew my name, I still didn't know hers, I swear Gambit called her something but for the life of me I couldn't remember what it was. And she was apologising, why the hell was she apologising?

"I'm sorry too, I can't control it, if these bars weren't here I'd be on you in seconds, maybe you shouldn't be sat so close."

"If you manage to rape me through a wall of bars I'll be impressed, Wade tells me that you're going to let the Professor into your head."

"Yeah, with a bit of luck I won't be a danger to you soon kid."

"Thanks, and when I snapped your neck, the first time, I'm sorry, that was a mean trick." I knew what she meant, she meant the soft words and the even softer hands gliding up my face. I smiled at her,

"It was a good trick, but it won't work twice." I smiled at her, she smiled back.

"With a bit of luck I won't have to ever trick you again."

"What's your name?" She looked up at me startled.

"Rhea Nightingale." I grinned at her

"It's nice to meet you properly Rhea Nightingale."

-xCFx-

**Okay, so I totally messed with the timelines, I know that if it's 15 years down the line that Wade and Gambit would be late 30's but I'm just ignoring that, in this story they're the same age as they were in origins. **

**Also I know Wade should be dead, or some remote controlled thing, but I'll explain that later, maybe next chapter.**

**Also I just watched First Class again, love James McAvoy as Xavier.**

**Please review and as always, if you notice any mistakes please point them out.**

**CF.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm so so so so so sorry about how late this chapter is. I've had exams and college work, I've started a new job and I simply haven't had the time to write. Still, exams are over so I should get a little better.**

**Anyway, I don't own plots/characters. If you recognise it, I don't own it.**

**This chapter has no lemons, but plenty of action scenes so I hope that makes up for it.**

**Oh, and Victors hunting her down bit by bit. So enjoy**

**CFx**

I felt absolutely no different. I didn't know if that's a good or a bad thing. I didn't feel the urge to gut Gambit anymore which I could only imagine was an improvement, but that might just be because her scent has worn off.

I guessed we wouldn't know if the Professor was successful until Storm returned with Rhea. Then they'd got this great plan where me and her stand really close, I'd smell her and then we'd see if I try and rape her. I swore I didn't know how I got mixed up in this crazy group. It was probably the Cajuns fault.

Talk of the devil and he shall appear I thought as Gambit rounded the corner, behind him were Rhea and Storm. I moved backwards and held my breath, even still, I knew she was a feral. My animal knew and it was raging.

I thought it hadn't worked. I didn't want her any less, the passion was still boiling up, kept at bay by the wall of my will.

Then I felt it, the one, tiny but incredibly important difference. That wall was just a little bit higher than last time, it was just high enough.

I quirked an eyebrow at the Professor,

"That's some talent you've got there." There was a collective sigh of relief around the room, Rhea was looking at me with big brown eyes. I inhaled.

"Whoa!" I backed up quickly, there was that desire again, that raging heat. I took three deep breaths, trying to ignore her scent in the air. Gambit had flung himself in front of Rhea, Wade and Cyclops stepped forward and Storms eyes clouded over.

"No. No, I'm fine. Just give me a minute." I managed to growl out. Rhea was still looking at me with worried eyes. She wasn't worried I was going to hurt her, she was worried about _me._

The human side of me felt a bolt of strength upon this realisation. I forced the animal deep down and straightened up. I walked slowly over to her, trying not to startle her or the others. Gambit didn't move when I reached him and deliberately stepped into my path when I tried to walk around him.

"Gambit. Let him pass." The Professor was evidently intrigued to see where I was going with this. The Cajun stepped aside, keeping close just in case.

I stepped forward, close enough to reach down and kiss her if I wanted. I'd have to reach down pretty far, she was very small. Very fragile.

I reached out a hand and snagged an auburn curl, she shivered. I raised the lock of hair to my nose and inhaled the scent of pine trees, she was frozen still. Every nerve in her body had to be screaming at her to run. But she stood her ground. And so did I.

I ran a thumb over a delicate cheek bone and she looked up at me alarmed. At first I was surprised, I was doing so well, She hadn't been that scared before.

Then it dawned on me, I was mirroring her actions from yesterday, right before she broke my neck. She was probably scared I was out for revenge.

"So, I think we've established that it worked, can you stop standing quite so close to her now please? Not trying to be rude or anything mate but I doubt having a great hulking brute who tried to rape you within the last 24 hours invading your personal space makes for a particularly happy mood. Why don't we all get some lunch? Is it too early for lunch? Does that make it brunch? Who wants brunch? No wait, that makes me sound too British, who wants food?"

"No one wants food Wade, now shut up." Cyclops snapped at him.

"You okay Cher? Do you want to see more of the school? We can show you some of the lessons."

"Actually, I think I need to go outside for a bit, is that okay?" I was still standing very close to her, but with Cyclops arguing with Wade behind me there wasn't much room to move back.

"Why doesn't Logan show you the horses? Do you ride Rhea?" The professor cut across the others squabbling. I raised an eyebrow at his suggestion, he wanted to leave me _alone_ with her?

"I used to, a long time ago, I'd love to ride again though."

"Well by all means, feel free to ride any of the horses in the stable, they're all calm and quiet creatures."

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. Where's Rhea going and why is she going with Logan?"

"Leave it Wade, the Cher wants to see the horses, Logan is the best with the horses, it's really quite simple. Now Gambit's fairly sure you've got geography to teach the younger classes. Run along have fun with that." I smiled gratefully at the Cajun and he tipped his hat in my direction.

"Don't forget, you gotta teach shop after lunch, don't be late, I can guarantee there'll be a whole gaggle of girls waiting in the garage anxious for the lesson to start." He smiled suggestively at me and I rolled my eyes. Hormonal teenage girls were the bane of my life. They had a tendency to follow me, Gambit and Wade around giggling and staring at us. It was damn annoying.

I turned back to Rhea who was watching the conversation with an amused look on her face.

"Do you want me to show you the horses? Do you want someone to go with us?" I asked her, I wasn't at all sure about this plan. She smiled timidly at me.

"No, it's okay, I think I can handle you, you certainly came off worse for wear after our last little fight." I winced slightly in memory of the pain a broken neck could cause. Then I winced again, imagining all the stick I'd get from Gambit and Wade when this all blows over, beaten by a slip of a girl.

"Alright, we should probably get going, the kids have a riding lesson before lunch and they're annoying as hell." Damn kids, I only liked about 6 of them. Not that there was anything wrong with them, they just annoyed me.

Actually, that reminded me, I still hadn't seen Rogue, I wondered how the Kid was doing, she could get depressed about her mutation.

I shook my head, I was going to need to concentrate, otherwise my control could slip and that could be disastrous.

"Lead the way, I'm still not sure how to find my way around here." She had such trust, if I'd been through what she'd been through in her life I'd be running in the opposite direction, not standing there smiling.

She really was one of a kind.

-xCFx-

I love horses. When I was younger, before me and my dad moved to Vegas I lived on a little farm in North Dakota, we kept all sorts of animals, but a large bay had been my favourite. I was delighted to have been able to ride again and the exercise had flushed my cheeks.

Logan was waiting for me when I'd finished and we went back to the Mansion to get lunch. He decided to plague me with questions the whole way there. We avoided the topic of my life since we first met but we exchanged childhood stories.

I was shocked to discover he was Victors brother. I wondered why Victor had never told me, he'd told me of his childhood in Canada but never had I heard of a brother.

"So, how'd you know the Cajun?" He asked as we sat down with pasta.

"The Cajun?"

"Gambit."

"Gambit? Oh, you mean Remy, we met in Vegas, he tried to cheat me at cards and failed. We got talking after that, I guess we exchanged a lot of secrets, we both needed someone to confide in."

"Secrets?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow, "What kind of secrets?"

"If I told you they wouldn't be secrets anymore now would they?" He laughed, Oh God I think I was actually flirting with him. I changed the subject fast.

"So, tell me about the X-Men, how did you all end up here?"

"Me an' Rogue were attacked and Cyclops and Storm brought us here for medical attention, that was almost a year ago now. I knew Wade and Gambit from the old days, Gambit I met in Vegas and I was in the Army with Wade. I think the Professor found Gambit in prison jail for fraud and Wade is a bit of a long story."

"Why?"

"Well, he used to work with me for a guy named William Stryker. We were in a special mutant team. Anyway, Stryker had Wade strapped to a table ready to do some crazy experiment on him when the X-Men burst in and stopped them. Now we're stuck with the idiot in the corner who seems to think all silences must be filled."

William Stryker, I swore the name rang a bell. I shook the thoughts from my head.

"What about the others?"

"Hank, the blue guy. He was one of the Professors first students and the others all grew up here before becoming X-Men."

"Why does everyone refer to Hank separately to the X-Men?" I asked.

"He's not always here, he's pushing mutant rights diplomatically so he's often in the city talking to big political players. Him and Senator Kelly keep having arguments."

I grinned at him over the table, Logan was easy to talk to, he was still staring at me with intense brown eyes which was a little off putting but he seemed to be holding everything in check.

"Well hello Petite, did you enjoy your ride?" Remy sat down next to us on the long metallic table. The dining hall was beginning to fill up and kids kept looking at me curiously.

"Yeah, your horses are all a little tame though, quiet and shy. They're not really my type." I grinned at him and he laughed.

"Logan's always complaining about that too. Hey, I think Jean and Storm want to take you shopping on account of your lack of possessions, that okay with you Cher?" I smiled and nodded, I really did need some clothes.

"Is that safe? I mean there's quite a few ferals out there are you sure you won't be attacked?" Logan was frowning at me a forkful of pasta hovering in the air halfway to his mouth.

"Hey, I lived in Vegas for over a decade and I only ever came across two ferals, even then I would have been fine if I hadn't decided to jump into a fight with one of them. Large populations mask my scent, that's why we moved to Vegas in the first place. I should be fine in New York."

"That's great, what sort'a pasta is it today?" Came Remy's reply as he reached over with a fork and tried to steal Logan's. Logan simply growled at him and batted him away. They were like one big, happy, if slightly dysfunctional family.

-xCFx-

I was beginning to regret offering to take the girls into the city. Sure it got me out of teaching the younger kids sex education but now I had to put up with Jean repeatedly asking.

"Scott honey, what do you think of this one?" and holding up a t-shirt in a slightly lighter shade of blue than the last one.

"It's lovely." I smiled and nodded before turning away and dropping the expression. Don't get me wrong I love my wife, but there's only so much clothes shopping a man can take. I decided to turn the conversation to more interesting topics.

"So Rhea, do you use any weapons when you fight? Or do you fight at all? We could teach you."

"I fight just fine thanks, and I like hunting knives but I can get away with just using my hands and feet as I guess you saw yesterday." Oh yeah, I remembered her repeatedly snapping Logan's neck, there's a memory I can treasure. I guess she could fight.

"You should try out the danger room when we get back, Wade showed you where it is didn't he?" I smiled at her.

"Yeah, it sounds really inter- No, there is no way I'm wearing something that restricting." I turned around to see Storm holding a full length almost skin tight denim skirt up. Rhea was shaking her head desperately, she turned to me with big scared eyes.

"Save me, please." I laughed, apparently I wasn't the only one that hated shopping.

-xCFx-

They were coming at me with the needles and the drills. I'm not stupid, I knew what they meant, they meant _pain_. More pain than I'd ever experienced anywhere else in my life. Stryker was standing somewhere outside my vision giving orders. I tried to wrench myself free but my movements were sluggish.

I felt something change and my eyes snapped open. In an instant I took in the figure standing over me and reacted instinctively, unsheathing my claws and driving them deep into their chest.

Rogue gasped slightly staring at the blades embedded in her flesh and like a jolt of electricity I took in what I'd done.

"No..." She was struggling to breathe. I pulled back the claws.

"Somebody help. SOMBODY HELP!" I roared. Rogue reached out her hand and in a moment I understood what she was doing. I flinched away slightly but I didn't try to stop her.

There was a flicker of light and I caught a glimpse of Cyclops and Rhea by the door before she touched me and set my body on fire. I could feel every cell in my body dying slowly, trying to heal but not repairing the damage quick enough.

I was unable to form a coherent thought through the pain and my head went blank.

"Logan." I awoke to the sound of the Professor voice. I opened my eyes slowly.

"What happened? Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine."

"What did she do to me?"

"Whenever Rogue touches anyone she takes their energy, their life force. In the case of mutants she absorbs their gifts for a while, in your case, your ability to heal." He answered calmly. I noticed the sweet scent in the room and through the dark I made out the shape of Rhea sat cross legged at the end of my bed.

"I feel like she almost killed me."

"If she'd held on any longer, she could have." He laid a hand on my arm before leaving. I turned to Rhea,

"You watching over me kid?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Kid? Why am I a Kid?" She asked in a rather angry tone.

I grinned slightly, unable to resist taunting her.

"Everyone's a kid when you're my age darlin' you me to stop calling you it you're going to have to come over here and prove you aren't one." She raised an eyebrow at me.

"And here was me thinking that the Professor fixed that particular part of your head."

"I can hold it back darlin' but I really don't want to sometimes, say when I wake up in a room covered in your scent." She blushed furiously and looked away.

"I'm not going to take you by force, but that doesn't mean I'm above seducing you."

"You have a very high opinion of yourself, what makes you think I'd ever let that happen." She was teasing a little now and I couldn't help retaliating.

"Well, if I remember correctly, you didn't seem so opposed to it yesterday." She blushed again and scowled at me, I chuckled lightly at her reaction. Her arousal had been hard to miss yesterday what with her being so close.

"That's not fair, I can't help the way I smell."

"It's alright Kid, I liked it."

"I'll bet you did." She muttered and my grin widened.

"Best go find Rogue and apologise, she's probably furious with me. Can you toss me my shirt?"

She plucked it off a chair and threw it to me before walking quickly out the door with a wave goodbye. I watched her hips sway as she left and stared appreciatively. Damn.

-xCFx-

"Good news Mr Creed, there was a satellite in the area that caught a glimpse of what happened, would you like to see the footage?" I nodded impatiently as the hacker I'd employed brought it up on the main screen.

A jet. A jet had landed and taken her away. The chances of her being kidnapped were dramatically increasing. It wasn't close up enough to see people so he couldn't be sure but it wasn't like she could have contacted anyone.

"We managed to track the jet for the majority of the journey, it was heading for New York, however as entered NY airspace it would appear to disappear. It had probably entered stealth mode."

"Why would it do that? Could they know we could track them? This could be a decoy." I growled out. I had no time for delays.

"Actually, it was probably to avoid being shot out of the air. It's a specialised jet that would have the army in defence mode quicker than you could blink. They're unlikely to have had clearance for a flight or a registered flight plan." I nodded, that made sense. This hacker was better than the ones I usually ended up with.

"Okay, so my package landed somewhere in New York? How can we be sure?" I asked. The hacker answered quickly.

"Well the trajectory is wrong for them to be heading anywhere else, as to where they landed I couldn't be sure. Perhaps you'd be better following this up in the City, you may, catch some scents so to speak." There was no fear in the man's voice and no insult he was fully aware that I was a mutant and he couldn't care less. I liked him, he was quick, efficient and didn't ask too many questions.

"What's your name boy?" He raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Why do you ask?" He wasn't naive either, didn't trust people easily, the kind of thing that'd keep him alive.

"If I ever have another job I'm coming to you, for that I'll need your name." He nodded his head slowly.

"Alexander Lewis. But you can call me Technopath, everyone else does."

"You're a mutant?" He laughed.

"Nah, mutants aren't the only group in society that get nicknames, us computer nerds get them too."

I nodded,

"How much do I owe you."

"For a standard search and locate it's five grand but considering I didn't actually find your package let's call it three." I dropped ten thousand dollars on the desk in a few neat bundles.

"Keep the change." I shot at him before turning to leave.

New York wouldn't know what hit it.

-xCFx-

"What's going on?" I found Logan having what seemed like a heated argument with the other X-Men.

"Rogue's taken off and these lot won't let me out to go find her." He growled. I looked around confused.

"Why not?"

"Magneto is after Logan, we can't risk giving him the opportunity to abduct him this close to the UN summit." Argued Cyclops.

"Magneto's after Logan? Why?" I was getting more and more confused.

"We don't know, but Cyclops is right, we can't risk it. Storm, Cyclops why don't you take Rhea and head over to the station." Answered the Professor.

"Why's Rhea going?" Cut in Wade.

"Because we might as well show her how it's done." Answered Cyclops grinning at me. I smiled back happy with this plan. Logan scowled and wandered off.

I was just climbing in the car after Storm when Cyclops looked around confused,

"Where's my bike? Hell, Logan's taken it again hasn't he! When's he going to start acting responsibly?"

"You don't like Logan." I noted.

"We don't see eye to eye." Was the only response I got.

There was an awkward silence after that.

"Right, me and Rhea will take a look around, Storm you go and check with the ticket agent." I looked around the train station curiously.

I'd only seen Rogue once and then I hadn't really been concentrating on her so I wasn't all too sure who I was looking for. Fortunately I did remember her scent so I was casting around for that instead. That was sort of the point I got scared half to death.

A feral male. I could smell a feral male. Seriously? I lived in a huge city for over a decade and I didn't see a single feral male until Victor came along. I'd been out in New York less than half an hour and here one was.

Adrenaline pumped into my veins and I wheeled around looking for Scott. The sight that greeted me was not a happy one. A huge man with a mane of blond-ginger hair was looming over me, he had claws like Victor and eyes that were just black pools.

He jumped towards me and I dodged running fast towards a pillar in the centre of the hall. I could hear him chasing me down but this time I was calm and collected. Victors lessons ran fast through my head and I quickly formed a plan.

I reached the pillar and ran straight up it with my inhuman grace. Below me the brute collided hard with the stone and I flipped over his head, landing behind him. People were screaming around me as I whirled around kicking him hard into the pillar he'd just pushed himself off.

The rest of my plan was interrupted by a huge blast of red light that caused the ceiling to explode. Momentarily distracted I lost track of the monster pursuing me. He took the opportunity and jumped at me again causing me to summersault backwards in order to evade his grasp.

The last thing I saw was him leaping at me again before a large piece of rubble connected hard with my head and all I saw was black.

-xCFx-

"You said he was after me!" I shouted furiously. Not only had the Professor lost Rogue but he'd put Rhea in danger too. How could he not have considered that Sabretooth was a feral mutant. If he had, maybe Rhea wouldn't be in the medical room right now being checked over by Jean.

"I made a terrible mistake. His helmet is somehow designed to block my telepathy. I couldn't see what he was after until it was too late." I shook my head at him and grabbed my jacket.

"Where are you going?" Storm was following me.

"To find her."

"How?" I scowled at the Professor.

"The traditional way; look." I left angrily but I could hear Storm following me.

"Logan, you can't do this alone."

"Yeah well I'm sick of waiting around for the rest of you to do something. Where are Gambit and Wade Storm? Where were they when Rhea was attacked? Sat on their arses back here that's where! You've all been going on for months about Magneto and the UN summit but now it's here you aren't doing anything! I can't sit around and do nothing. I'm going to find Rogue and I'm going to stop that thing coming after Rhea."

I flung the door open and was about to step through it when I realised there was something in my way. A man was leaning heavily on the door frame sweating considerably. I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm looking for Dr Jean Grey." He forced out before collapsing against me.

Great.

-xCFx-

I was just about shaking myself awake when Scott and Wade came charging into the room holding the Professor between them. He wasn't conscious and I could tell by his scent that something was _really_ wrong.

"What happened?" I asked blearily but they were too busy with the Professor to notice I was awake.

"Get Jean, NOW!" Scott roared at Wade and as he exited Remy slipped past him and dashed up to the Professors side.

"What's wrong with him? How'd this happen?" He asked desperately, supporting the Professors head as he helped Scott get him on to the bed.

"I found him collapsed by Cerebro, something must have gone wrong."

"Aw Hell, he was looking for Magneto right? Brilliant." He was scowling when he looked over to me and surprise flickered across his face.

"Rhea, you okay Cher? It's good to see you awake but you missed all the excitement. Senator Kelly wandered over and died from some crazy machine Magneto turned on him, the Professors collapsed and we've discovered that Magneto's going to use Rogue to power his machine. All the while you've been sleepin' down here."

I looked up at him confused.

"Senator Kelly?" He laughed at me lightly.

"You'll catch up eventually Petite." Then He turned back to look at the Professor his face etched with worry. Jean ran into the room with Wade hot on her heels and shot over to the Professor and began taking his pulse and some other readings wasn't all too sure on.

"Come on Rhea, I think we can only crowd them in here." He slipped his arm around my waist and helped me from the room, Wade followed us out and collapsed next to the wall just outside the door, for once he had no smart comments.

Remy was just helping me to the wall when a guttural growl emanated from down the corridor. I whipped my head around to see Logan glaring at Remy's arm around my waist. He stormed down the corridor and wrenched me away from Remy with a warning look in his eyes.

Keeping one arm around me he slid down one of the walls and sat down opposite Wade. Gambit shook his head and sat down next to Wade.

His grip on me was still tight but not painfully so. I was confused and tired so I snuggled into his warmth and slid back to sleep with the comforting sound of his heartbeat in my ears.

"Jean? JEAN!" I blinked my eyes lazily as I watched Scott run past shouting her name. Wade and Remy had gone but Logan was still next to me.

"What's the problem? She's just fixing it." He called out to an overly anxious Scott.

The doors to Cerebro were closing though and from here I could sense something wasn't right. I could smell Jeans panic and I straightened up to go help.

As fast as they closed the doors were open again but I could see Jean kneeling on the floor. I ran full pelt down the corridor and I just reached the room when I heard Jean tell Scott,

"I know where Magneto is going."

After that everything happened pretty fast. We all ended up gathered in a room I hadn't seen before with what appeared to be a giant bowl of liquid metal. Apparently it wasn't though because when Scott started talking it moved to create 3d images of cities and islands.

"Magneto is here, Liberty Island. Now presumably his objective is to mutate the world leaders at the UN Summit on Ellis Island." Storm cut in,

"He doesn't know his machine kills, and judging from what the Professor saw, if Magneto gave Rogue enough power..."

"He could wipe out everyone in New York city." Finished Jean.

"No pressure then." Came the reply from Wade who seemed to have got his humour back. Scott just rolled his eyes at him.

"Right, we can insert here at the George Washington Bridge, come around the bank, just off Manhattan, we land on the far side of Liberty Island, here." A spot appeared on the 3d display.

"Right, you get the Jet ready, we'll go suit up, Storm can you find something for Rhea to wear." Logan asked, still chewing on his cigar.

"Wait up. The Cher isn't coming with us, we can't put her in that sort of danger." Objected Remy. I turned to him scowling, immediately infuriated at the suggestion I couldn't handle it but Logan beat me to it.

"Listen here Cajun. She can handle herself in a fight, believe me and even if she couldn't, I ain't leaving her here. Now, I don't think Sabretooth knew she was with us, but if he did then he'll be coming here for her so there is no way in hell I'm leaving her here undefended. You got that?"

I had to hand it to Remy, he properly considered Logan's argument before declaring

"You're right, but I don't think we've got a suit that'd fit, the Cher's a fair amount smaller than Storm 'n Jean."

"Hey, I'm here you know!" I objected to being talked about like I wasn't there.

"Sorry Petite."

"Besides, I don't need a suit, why would I? I need something none restricting which your suits really don't look and what's the worst that could happen? I get shot or stabbed? Heaven forbid I'd have to heal myself." I rolled my eyes.

"Believe me boys I'll find something."

'Something' ended up being a long sleeved black top, my denim shorts and footless tights, I wasn't even wearing shoes, they'd just slow me down.

Wade, Remy and Logan all protested at my choice of outfit but Scott shouted them down.

"It's fine, now Rhea come here I've got a couple of things to add."

His 'couple of things' turned out to be knives. Hunting knives specifically, he must have remembered our conversation yesterday. Leather straps circled my waist and upper thighs as well as one looping around my shoulders.

I was carrying seven knives in various places within easy reach. I grinned at him. This was going to be fun.

-xCFx-

New York, this place was filthy and crude, just like it's people. My kind of place. I'd been in the city for over a day now and no one had seen my girl. I growled lightly into the night air.

I was contemplating finding a motel to bed down in when a niggling feeling entered my head. Never one to ignore my instincts I turned my head towards the harbour and began casting for scents.

I found nothing but I didn't disregard the feeling, my instincts had never been wrong. Launching myself up the side of an apartment block I began racing across the roof tops in the direction of the harbour, casting for scents as I went.

I reached the water's edge and looked across it dejectedly. I really didn't want to have to swim through that for nothing. I began casting for scents again.

Nothing. I growled deeply. Any scents there might have been were masked by that God awful jet exhaust, where was that even coming from anyway?

Jet exhaust. I froze. JET EXHAUST. The smell was slightly familiar, just like the lingering scent back at the house in Canada. Roaring in triumph I plunged into the water, following the scent trail.

Better keep running Kitten, I'm coming for you.

-xCFx-

I whipped around at the sound of an alarm and was shocked to see Logan walking through the metal detector. I mean come on, even I wasn't that stupid. He sliced through it before sheathing two of his claws keeping one pointed at Scott. I stifled a giggle.

Wade shot me a smile and vaulted over an exhibition just like I had.

Logan stopped suddenly and began sniffing. I did the same.

"There's someone here." We said simultaneously.

"More than one" I added and he nodded.

"Where?" Scott asked and Logan rolled his eyes.

"I don't know, keep your eye open." He smirked before walking further ahead.

"Logan, play nice." Remy frowned at him, I glanced around quickly and realising it was useless I switched to my hearing instead. One, no, two were on the balcony and a third was apparently hanging in the rafters. I could hear their hearts beat.

"Two up there, one over there." I pointed and the others looked a little shocked but glanced around where I told them. Logan returned at this point.

"I know there's someone here, I just can't see them." Something was off about him, he didn't _smell_ right. I watched his claws come out.

"Scott!" I screamed as Logan lunged at him. Suddenly a second Logan appeared from nowhere and tackled him sending them both rolling into an adjacent room. With a satisfied smirk one of them sliced a rope causing the door to slide closed. Cursing Scott turned around.

"Where are they?" He asked me quickly. I pointed again. The one on the rafters moved, fast. Swinging down he hit Scott hard and dragged another door closed, cutting us off. His green face was a triumphant smirk. Two of our biggest fighters gone within seconds. I squared my shoulders keeping close tabs on the two on the balcony.

One minute one was there, the next it was standing right in front of me. It was a tall woman with Dark hair scraped back in a bun, my quick reactions were the only thing that stopped her from landing her fist in my face.

I danced around her before kicking her towards Wade and Gambit. They should probably have taken the hint and attacked but they hung back, waiting for an order that wasn't coming. The Professor was out of play and Scott could hardly give orders from behind the concrete door.

"You two, take the teleporter!" I shouted as I blocked a punch from the green creature and darted back towards Jean and Storm.

"Jetstream!" The toad shouted and a noise I'd never heard before echoed above our heads. A figure swooped down and collided hard with Storm, propelled by what seemed like a none existent jet engine.

That left Jean and I against the green person. I gritted my teeth and as he jumped forwards we skittered back. He laughed and began dancing happily before leaping at us. My arms went up to defend my face and I coloured slightly in embarrassment as I realised that Jean had caught him with her telekinesis.

He looked curiously at his suspended body before locking eyes with Jean and spitting slime at her that coated her face, preventing her from breathing.

"Jean!" I grabbed at the slime but I felt something strong grasp onto my ankle and throw me up to the balcony. The toad jumped after me cackling madly. I glanced quickly at Jean, but I'd never get close enough with the toad following me around. Finish it quickly then.

He ran at me and I back flipped over his head, using his shoulders as leverage. I pulled out two hunting knives and whirled around to face him. He looked at me curiously before lashing out.

I dodged his tongue but my attempt a sliding a knife through his ribs was hindered by his foot connecting hard with my stomach. I fell backwards, gasping for breath and used the railing to pull myself upright.

"My, my, where are your manners, we haven't even been introduced. You're not one of the X-Men, you don't even have a uniform."

My bruised stomach healed but I remained doubled over, all the better if he believed me incapacitated. He licked his lips and I shuddered.

"Come on Sweetie, Gimme a kiss." I dropped to the floor and swiped his legs from beneath him before burying a knife in his thigh. He screamed out in pain and I allowed myself a grim smile before I leapt up and twisted the second knife towards his heart.

His tongue caught my arm, twisting it sideways so I had to drop the knife which he caught expertly before thrusting into my chest.

It hurt. A lot. But in a sick, twisted way it was worth to see his look of shock when I calmly pulled the knife out and the wound healed. I grinned at him.

"Having fun?" I asked in an overly sweet voice before punching him with my free hand. I vaulted on to the railing pulling a third knife out from my person. I had to finish this soon before I ran out of knives. The railing was thin but my mutation easily compensated for it.

The toad jumped up too, now a little more wary of me. His tongue lashed out and in a calculated movement I flipped backwards, releasing the knives in mid air so that they embedded into the wall behind me, I continued doing flips and somersaults along the railing until I too reached the wall.

The toad was hot on my heels and so when I reached the wall and grasped the two knives it was ridiculously easy for me to pull them out of the plasterboard and shove one into his chest.

He looked down in surprise at the hilt protruding from his chest.

"Well, at least I'm having fun." I told him before dragging the second knife across his throat.

His body collapsed to the ground below and I followed it, trying to find Jean. Scott had already found her and released her from the sticky green stuff but from the sounds coming from the far side of the balcony, Storm wasn't doing so well. Wade and Remy were being played with by the teleporter who had them running in circles.

Scott took in the scene with calculating eyes.

"Go help the boys." He told me before starting to climb the balcony with Jean.

I ran forwards but had to dodge a glowing purple playing card aimed in my direction.

"Sorry!" Came the muffled shout from Remy as Wade crashed into him and the two went flying. They stood up looking around in annoyance.

"Having trouble boys?" I grinned at them. The knife in my hand was still slick from the toads blood and I must have looked pretty scary because they both nodded meekly.

My senses stirred and I realised what I was feeling. I could sense her moving the air particles from where she wanted to be. I narrowed my eyes, flipped the blade over in my hand before throwing it hard at Remy.

The look of fear and betrayal in his eyes was heart breaking. But luckily the teleporter appeared just where I expected her to be and the knife landed firmly in her back. Remy's face appeared around the frozen teleporter displaying shock and understanding.

"Oh." He murmured. Wade stepped forward and finished her off with a flick of a Katana.

Logan jogged up and looked us all over. Wade aimed a Katana at him and Remy pulled out a glowing playing card.

"Guys, it's fine, it's him." I told them but they didn't lower their guard.

"How'd you know Cher?" I wrinkled up my nose.

"I can smell him." They all chuckled at that and we went to regroup.

"What happened to the other guy?" I asked Storm as we climbed the stairs.

"He got struck by lightning." She said with a straight face.

"Tragedy." I told her and she laughed.

I almost walked into the back of Logan when he stopped at the top of the stairs. He was standing completely still looking out of the giant hole that had been blown in the Statue of Liberties head.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Get out, everyone get out now."

"Why?"

"I can't move." I jumped back lightly as he was flung by an invisible force against one of the walls. The distraction prevented me from noticing the strips of metal until it was too late and I was flung against the wall with the rest of the team.

Magneto, or at least that's who I presumed it was descended through the hole in the ceiling. He glanced around before speaking.

"Ah, my brothers. Welcome, and you." He turned to Logan with a cold stare that made me shudder.

"Let's point those claws of yours in a safer direction." He reached out his hand bringing his fist together and my eyes grew wide with horror as I watched Logan's arms be forced to his chest, a metal strip binding them there.

I froze as the great hulking mass of Sabretooth dropped through the roof.

"You better close your eyes." Magneto told Scott as Sabretooth pulled his visor away. So far the feral hadn't noticed my presence but that wasn't going to last long.

"Storm, fry them." He ordered, now even I could see that was a stupid idea.

"Oh yes, a bolt of lightning into a huge copper conductor. I thought you lived at a school." Magneto mocked him, I couldn't help myself.

"I agree, lightning is a bad idea, but here's a fun thought, we're all tied to the walls so a tornado would be mighty handy right now." Magneto looked a little shocked and Storms eyes began to cloud over.

But Magneto just lifted a hand and a piece of metal wrapped around Wade's throat.

"Try it and he dies." Storms eyes returned to normal. Magneto began to fiddle with his communicator and Sabretooth had gone to hover by the big hole, something I was pretty happy with as the fresh air would keep my scent at bay for a little while.

"Mystique. Mystique. Astra?" He called into his communicator.

"I've seen Senator Kelly." Jean called.

"So, the good Senator survived his fall, and the swim to shore. He's become even more powerful than I could have imagined."

"He's dead." Interrupted Jean.

"It's true, I saw him die. Like those people down there will die." Spoke up Storm. Magneto leaned close to her,

"Are you sure you saw what you saw?"

"Why do none of you understand what I'm trying to do? Those people down there, they control our fate, and the fate of every other mutant. Well soon our fate will be theirs."

Rogues screaming could be heard above us and I hissed in anger.

"You're so full of shit." Logan growled at him. "If you were really so righteous it'd be you in that thing." Magneto just stared at him.

"Wade's right, if we ever go to war with the humans, my moneys on you to have been the cause." I spat at him.

He turned to me.

"I don't think we've been introduced my dear." I glared harshly at him before lowering my head in a mock bow.

"Rhea Nightingale at your service."

"It's been a delight." He told me before leaving.

Suddenly Logan roared in pain and I switched my attention back to him. He'd fallen to the floor in a pained heap.

"Logan!" I screamed, struggling against my restraints. Sabretooth wandered over to inspect his body carelessly. He grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and was hauling him up when Logan unleashed his claws and drove them into the larger man's body.

Sabretooth roared in pain before throwing Logan out of the hole. I sobbed quietly and suddenly the man's entire body stiffened. He turned to me, eyes boring into me as he realised who I was, a long claw, similar to Victors trailed across my cheek.

"Scream for me." He growled and I shrunk back away from him. Logan jumped quickly back through the hole, locking eyes with me he took in my tears and just how close the hulking mass was and I could smell his anger boil up further.

"Get back over here bub, I'm not done with you yet." The monster turned back to him and charged at him, knocking him back out of the whole as they scrambled for purchase outside. A few roars later there was a worrying sliding noise and Logan's claws appeared a few inches from Jean's face.

Sabretooth jumped back down towards me and ripped the metal strips away, hauling me towards him, his claws digging deep into my forearms, I struggled desperately but he was far stronger than me and my efforts made little difference.

He was suddenly blasted off me by a flash of purple light. I turned around to see Remy grinning at me. He must have managed to get a card out of his pocket. Before I could really register what was going on Sabretooth was back on his feet and dragging me towards the hole in the roof.

Once outside underneath the night sky I could hear Rogues screams clearly as the torch exploded around her. Sabretooth continued dragging me across the statue when Logan appeared before us. He shook his head at Sabretooth.

"Don't touch my girl."

With that he kicked him, hard. The force sent him spinning off the edge of the statue. He would have taken me with him if Logan hadn't grabbed my arm and hauled me roughly against him, burying his head in my neck and wrapping his arms around my slim frame.

"Erm, Rogue?" I prompted and he quickly snapped out of it.

"Right, Rogue, yes." Together we climbed back into the hole.

-xCFx-

I shook the water from my coat as I padded onto the small island, I'd found the damn jet parked in the water. Good news, it'd been coated in the Kittens scent. Bad news, she wasn't there. I growled angrily to myself, I knew who owned the fucking jet too, it was covered in damn X's it was pretty obvious.

The X-Men had swooped in and taken my Kitten and they were going to rue the day they so much as spoke her name. I was following her scent trail when a much fresher source of her scent appeared within my range. Deciding I could afford a quick detour I followed my nose.

A feral mutant. A _male_ feral mutant was slowly lifting himself off the ground. He was coated in his own blood and the majority of his bones appeared to be broken. My eyes widened slightly as I realised he must have fallen.

Her scent was still coming from him despite the amount of blood which meant that he must have held her pretty close. I was not happy. Understatement. I was fucking furious. I hauled him roughly to his feet and shook my head at him."

"Don't touch my girl." I told him before promptly ripping his head from his shoulders.

'Coming to get you Kitten.' I thought to myself savagely.

-xCFx-

"Cyclops can you hit it?" Logan asked, we were all gathered around the hole in the roof now.

"The rings are moving too fast." Answered Cyclops who'd been reunited with his visor.

"Just shoot it!"

"I'll kill her! Storm, can you get me up there?"

"I can't control it like that. You could fly right over the torch."

"Then let me go." Interrupted Logan. "If I don't make it, then at least you can still blast the damn thing."

"Whoa, no." I hissed, "That's basically suicide."

"Nothing's really suicide for us darling, you know that." I nodded slightly and he leant down and kissed me. It was possessive, but at the same time it was soft and loving, very, very loving. I gasped for breath as he pulled away. He pressed a set of dog tags into my palm and turned to face the torch.

I stared at the tags in my hand. Suddenly, Victors seemed to weigh a ton hanging around my neck. Crap.

I jolted my eyes back to his figure as he grasped the machine desperately. I sighed in relief as he managed to jump down next to Rogue.

"Magneto." I hissed as he lifted an arm to stop Logan in his tracks.

"Aw Hell." Came Wade's reply from my left. "Fuck off you Dick!" He shouted angrily.

Scott lifted a hand to his visor.

"Scott wait." Called Jean.

"I have a shot...I'm taking it." He told her and a beam of red streaked across the sky, connecting with Magneto's back.

"Good shooting!" Shouted Wade as Logan broke free and cut the machine to ribbons. I jumped up and down in triumph, grinning manically.

"We have to get out of here, I can't imagine that went unnoticed." Spoke Storm from the back of the group.

"I'll go fetch the Blackbird." Storm hopped lightly out of the hole and glided down to the water below. I returned my gaze to the torch, but I couldn't see Logan or Rogue. I hissed impatiently. He'd better be all right I thought to myself, gripping his dog tags.

-xCFx-

I raced up the steps on all fours. What the hell she was doing at the top of the Statue of Liberty I couldn't tell you, but her scent was fresh and I wasn't arguing with my nose.

I reached the top only to find it empty. I roared in fury as the scent of the jet exhaust washed over me. Gone. She was gone again. But I'd find her, you mark my words I'd find her. The X-Men huh? Well that's just fine by me, I already know where you live. I grinned manically.

Poor little Kitten, you really shouldn't have run.

-xCFx-

**Alright, thanks for reading as always, I'll apologise again for how very late this chapter is.**

**I hope you liked the re-write of X-Men 1 I hope I made it interesting enough for you, I would hate for you to be bored.**

**Well, it's 04:40 in the morning and I'm going to bed, night all.**

**CFx**


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